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Posted on November 10, 2016 by DavidSwanson
John Feffer argued on Wednesday that Demagogue Donald, whose very existence will lead me to pretend I’m not from the U.S. the next time I’m in Europe, is part of a wider trend that’s already hit Europe hard:
“The ugliness has been percolating in Europe for some time now. It wasn’t just Brexit, Britain’s unexpected rejection of the European Union. It was the election of militant populists throughout Eastern Europe — Viktor Orban in Hungary, Robert Fico in Slovakia, the party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Poland. It was the electoral surge of the National Front in France and the Alternative fur Deutschland in Germany. It was the backlash against immigrants, social welfare programs, and ‘lazy Mediterraneans’ — but also against bankers and Brussels bureaucrats.”
I think the trend is even wider and deeper if the trend we’re talking about is that of making everything worse, of increasing inequality, of increasing militarism, of destroying the environment, of pushing profit over people. If that’s the trend, the bankers are its vanguard, not its victims, and it has saturated the international establishment almost as thoroughly as it has the rightwing sectarians.
But the trend Feffer seems to have in mind is one of nationalism or ethnic identity or racism in opposition to global humanitarianism. Feffer’s new dystopian novel, Splinterlands , tells a future of shattered nations and international institutions, replaced with ever smaller and more disastrous warring city states. It’s a vision that should disturb us deeply, a vision of what this world could actually become if it gains nothing in wisdom, miraculously survives its nuclear weapons, and plows right ahead into climate chaos and total capitalist consumption.
Feffer’s utopia seems to be a globe unified in peace. But his dystopia is not unlike that of an author like Ian Morris whose utopia is a globe unified by imperial war. The great threat on the horizon for both is balkanization or splintering. Feffer sees this brought on by bigotry, militarism, and environmental destruction. Morris sees the threat as, basically, un-Americanism. But where does barbaric tribalism stop and the promotion of more direct local democracy begin? Is bigger always better and smaller always worse?
Feffer may not think so, because, in fact, a small utopia hidden in one corner of a sinking Titanic of an earth shows up in Splinterlands — something of a Luddite communal organic farm of a sort that essentially exists right now, a creation that cannot save us all or even itself unless expanded to a radically larger scale or duplicated innumerable times. The trick, then, may be to duplicate sustainable and just local living within a global system of nonviolent dispute resolution, cooperation, and fairness.
Feffer says he thought a Trump figure wouldn’t arrive for four more years — though it’s interesting that a big role in his fictionalized future dismantling of the world is played by a hurricane named Donald. My question is whether Trump’s disastrous arrival might not in some ways be put to good use toward human survival. I’m thinking of a particular good use to which Hillary Clinton’s disastrous arrival would not have leant itself. That is to say, can we not now appeal to other nations to recognize that the presence of U.S. military troops on their soil represents their subservience to the odious Donald Trump, a figure hardly to be imagined as the mythical Barack Obama, man of peace?
Can we encourage nonviolent resistance to U.S. militarism without encouraging a dive into a dystopian Splinterlands? Can the world refuse to participate in U.S. wars and U.S. weapons dealing while increasing its participation in cooperative non-military endeavors with the United States and the globe? Can U.S.-led war making, and the war making of other nations, come to be understood as the enemy of good globalism, not as the embodiment of UN humanitarian intervention in the affairs of those deemed less developed?
The alternative to the world figuring out how to resist U.S. wars would seem to be the people of the United States shutting down its war machine from within, without the assistance of the other 96%. But how does that seem to be working out? This entry was posted in General . Bookmark the permalink . | 1 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York police on Thursday arrested 25 people in the lobby of Trump Tower protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration and border policies. The demonstrators who sat in front of the elevators and chanted “no ban, no raids, no wall!” led security forces to close public accesses to the president’s signature property, a commercial and residential skyscraper where first lady Melania Trump and son Barron Trump stay while the president is in Washington. As heavily armed police wearing ballistic vests stood guard blocking the entrances, other officers carried the protesters to police vans. The building in the heart of the Fifth Avenue shopping district was also home to Trump’s campaign and has been his primary residence for years. The lobby is open to the public, though security was tightened as the 2016 campaign progressed and he was elected president. Charges were pending, a police said in a statement. The demonstrators wore T-shirts with slogans such as “No wall,” in reference to Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico, and “No raids,” referring to U.S. arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants. “No ban” refers to Trump’s executive orders seeking to restrict immigration from several Muslim-majority countries. | 1 |
Donald Trump ignited a firestorm on Wednesday when he told MSNBC s Chris Matthew s that abortion should be banned and women should be punished for having them. When he realized that people were flipping their lids, he backtracked and said he meant doctors should be punished. Now his campaign spokeswoman, Katrina Pierson, is adding to the controversy after she yelled at CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota Thursday morning for repeating Trump s words verbatim.During the interview, Pierson became visibly angry when Camerota asked her about Trump wanting to ban abortions. She told the host that her boss never called for a ban on abortion. Actually, he did. Several times during his interview with MSNBC, and Camerota pointed that out by repeating his exact words: He said, I would ban it. Katrina, You are mincing words here. Pierson responded: This is a misspeak, Alisyn. No Alisyn, there was a misspeak here, and you have a presidential candidate that clarified the record. Not once, but twice. Although he did clarify his abortion position, his clarification was just as, confusing. First, he said it should be up to the state. Then he said At this point Pierson completely lost it, cutting the host off, she shouted: No, they weren t confusing! Because the first thing was about a ban. That s correct and that s correct, it should be down to the states because that s what the potential ban was talking about. Unfazed by her anger, the CNN host continued to repeat Trump s words back to her, demolishing her it was about the states talking point. She also muses that it is a window into Trump s mind and asks the spokeswoman if he has even bothered to sit down with policy advisors and discuss this issue. After about a minute of back and forth with the CNN host refusing to let Pierson glass over the fact that he said women should be punished if they terminate a pregnancy, the Trump puppet repeated: It was a misspeak! How many times do I have to say that? This was a complete misspeak during a conversation over a hypothetical concept and there was a clarification issue. Here s the problem with this it was a misspeak nonsense: Trump has obviously never considered the ramifications of his pro-life stance and Matthews shone a glaring light on that. The entire point of the question was to see whether or not the blustering tough guy had actually sat down and laid out a concrete agenda on the issue of women s rights, his response showed that he clearly has not. Furthermore, Trump and his people can say that he isFurthermore, Trump and his people can say that he is pro-life all they want, but nobody actually believes that. He did not just change his mind this year, he has always been pro-choice, but he isn t saying that because he wants to appease the right-wing s base. It s actually pretty ironic, someone who puts on this big show of not caring what other people think and refusing to be politically correct is too afraid to stand up for his own beliefs. And if he can t do that for himself, what makes Republicans think he could do it for the country?Watch the interview below: Featured image via video screenshot | 1 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says paying no income tax would make him “smart.” While nearly half of Americans agree with him, more people think it is “selfish,” and “unpatriotic,” according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday. Some 67 percent of Americans said it is “selfish” for a presidential candidate to pay no taxes, while 61 percent said it is “unpatriotic,” according to the poll, which allowed respondents to pick more than one adjective to describe paying no taxes. At the same time, the results showed some respect for a candidate who can figure out how to reduce their tax bill. Some 46 percent of Americans, including 35 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of Republicans, thought a presidential candidate who pays no taxes is “smart.” Trump’s taxes have become a big campaign issue after the New York Times released a portion of his 1995 tax returns last week and estimated that Trump likely paid no taxes for a number of years. The celebrity real estate developer, who is the first presidential candidate in decades to refuse to release his full tax returns, didn’t deny the report. He later said that he had “brilliantly used” U.S. tax rules to his advantage. During the first presidential debate with his rival Democrat Hillary Clinton last month, Trump responded to Clinton’s allegation that he paid no federal taxes by saying that would make him “smart.” “What is he trying to say: that those of us who pay taxes aren’t intelligent?” said poll respondent Yonna McNerney, 41, of Denver. “I started working at the age of 16, and I’ve always paid taxes,” she said. “Not paying taxes, I don’t think that’s acceptable.” McNerney, a mother of three who works at a telecommunications company, remains uncommitted in the race and said Trump’s comments about taxes haven’t changed her mind one way or the other. April St. Aoro, 46, who works for a manufacturing firm near St. Cloud, Minnesota, was more understanding of Trump’s point of view, though she also remains undecided in the race. “I think all of us are trying to pay as little taxes as possible,” St. Aoro said. Respondents were slightly less critical when asked to describe a private citizen paying no taxes. Some 64 percent agreed it was “selfish,” while just over half agreed it was “unpatriotic.” Some 50 percent, including 37 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of Republicans, agreed that it was “smart.” The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. Respondents were asked what they thought of “a private citizen who has found a way to pay no income taxes,” and given the choice to agree or disagree to the words “smart,” “selfish,” and “unpatriotic.” They were then asked the same set of questions about a presidential candidate. The Sept. 28-Oct. 3 poll was part of a larger national tracking poll that tracks public opinion every day. It included 1,948 American adults, including 893 Democrats and 635 Republicans. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire sample, 4 percentage points for Democrats only and 5 percentage points for Republicans. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday her party would not support a short-term funding bill being brought up for a vote later in the day because it did not include any key Democratic priorities. Pelosi said Democrats were seeking funding for fighting opioid addiction, veterans, the children’s health program, community health centers, disaster funding and a solution for young undocumented immigrants to the United States. Her statement suggested Republicans would have to find the votes they need to pass the bill among their own members. If a short-term funding measure is not approved by the Republican-led Congress and signed by Republican President Donald Trump, all but the most essential parts of the federal government will shut down. Pelosi told a news briefing that “Democrats are not willing to shut government down,” but she also said her members “will not leave here (for the holidays) without a ... fix” to the problem of illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children, who are sometimes referred to as “Dreamers.” Pelosi said the temporary spending measure before the House on Thursday was a “waste of time.” “It has nothing about (the) opioid epidemic. There’s nothing about veterans’ funding, nothing about CHIP— CHIP — children’s health insurance, community health centers, nothing about, well, the DREAM Act, among other things,” she said. The short-term spending bill does provide some short-term help for states that are running out of money to finance the children’s health insurance program for lower-income children, but it stops short of renewing the program, which Congress allowed to expire at the end of September. Pelosi, discussing the immigration issue, said Democrats were willing to accept new funding for border security, but not for a border wall. “We’re not going to turn this country into a reign of terror of domestic enforcement and have the Dreamers pay that price,” she said. Republicans have a majority in both the House and Senate. But they will need some Democratic support to get the temporary spending bill past Senate procedural hurdles that require 60 votes, since there are only 52 Republicans in the 100-member chamber. | 1 |
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese president appeared to defend Hezbollah as necessary to resist Israel on Monday, after an Arab League statement accused the group of terrorism and noted it is part of Lebanon s coalition government. Israeli targeting still continues and it is the right of the Lebanese to resist it and foil its plans by all available means, President Michel Aoun s office quoted him as saying in a Tweet. The heavily armed Shi ite Muslim Hezbollah, formed by Iran s Revolutionary Guards, fought Israel s occupation of Lebanon in the early 1980s and says its weapons are still needed against Israel. Saudi Arabia, a regional rival of Iran, opposes Hezbollah s role as a military force in Syria and has accused it of helping the Houthi group in Yemen and militants in Bahrain. The Arab League met on Sunday to discuss what it called Iranian interference in Arab countries, and accused Tehran s ally Hezbollah of terrorism. Aoun said that Lebanon could not accept suggestions that its government was a partner in acts of terrorism, another Tweet quoted him as saying after meeting Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Beirut. Aboul Gheit said in Beirut that nobody was accusing Lebanon s government of terrorism or wanted to harm Lebanon. One of the ruling partners is accused of this...It is an indirect means of asking the Lebanese state to talk to this partner and convince them to restrain their acts on Arab land, he said. Everyone acknowledges the particularity of the Lebanese situation. Lebanon faces a political crisis after its prime minister Saad al-Hariri suddenly resigned on Nov. 4 in a statement broadcast from Saudi Arabia. His resignation statement accused Iran and Hezbollah of sowing strife in Arab countries. | 1 |
Trump s war on the media didn t end with his election. On his planet, everything the media says about him that makes him look bad is just a vast conspiracy to undermine him and make him look bad. This immature attitude is beginning to bleed over onto the White House press corps now, who may find themselves without access to the White House very soon, because Trump and his team are seriously considering kicking them out of the White House press room.Yes, really, that s what they re considering. From Esquire:Another senior official, however, suggested a more pointed motivation for the move. According to the official, the potential relocation reflected a view within the transition team that coverage of Trump has been so hostile as to indicate that the press has abandoned its role as neutral observer. They are the opposition party, a senior official says. I want em out of the building. We are taking back the press room. They re the opposition party. Well, isn t that a nice way of saying they re the enemy. They want sycophants in the press, not honest press. We are taking back the press room. Really? Who did it belong to before? Their idea of taking back the press room reeks of taking back America. Or, to put it bluntly, they re remaking the White House and America into an image more to their liking. It s one that doesn t include anyone who opposes Trump.The press corps is, understandably, upset about this. Jeff Mason, presidential correspondent for Reuters and president of the White House Correspondents Association, issued this statement in rebuke:My WHCA statement on press access to the White House briefing room. pic.twitter.com/kD9tS7ayt9 Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) January 15, 2017And then there s the rest of Twitter:@grynbaum @maggieNYT First item on the authoritarian agenda. Ray Beck (@niteowl41) January 15, 2017@henrykelley @grynbaum Yep, they need more room for Breitbart and other news organizations Liz Sabado (@Wenican) January 15, 2017@jayrosen_nyu @AdrienneLaF The Trump Administration: A cross between Nazi Germany and high school. Amy Mullen (@MinnowSF) January 15, 2017@jayrosen_nyu @AdrienneLaF @esquire So here s the 1st thing good autocrats do, Putin said. Evict the press. They re the opposition party Larry Hanover (@larryhanover) January 15, 2017@jayrosen_nyu @AdrienneLaF @esquire Herr Drumpf has his own press corps; his Twitter account. Joshua Aaron (@JAaronCA) January 15, 2017@dailydot History will judge those who were complicit in a corrupt trump administration, that is if there is any history Lilith (@lilith2u) January 16, 2017@CBSNews an informed populace is a real threat to dictators pic.twitter.com/cKvuP7WrkZ Trump Memes (@Trump__Memes) January 15, 2017Of course, Trump s pick for press secretary, Sean Spicer, is trying to spin this as a positive, we really do care deeply about the White House press corps, move: There s been so much interest in covering a President Donald Trump. A question is: Is a room that has forty-nine seats adequate? When we had that press conference the other day, we had thousands of requests, and we capped it at four hundred. Is there an opportunity to potentially allow more members of the media to be part of this? That s something we re discussing. The White House press room is supposed to be a symbol of a free press, but neither Trump nor anybody on his team believes in a free press. A free press is critical. A free press doesn t bow and scrape. Anytime they don t like what the press is reporting, they scream FAKE NEWS! And it should terrify all of us because it s the first real step they could take towards actually censoring the media.Featured image by Spencer Platt via Getty Images | 1 |
Can somebody tell this piece of shit congressman that the emergency room is is NOT healthcare coverage?On Tuesday, GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz told low-income Americans that if they want healthcare they should stop buying iPhones, even though an iPhone is ten times cheaper per year than the average health insurance premium. You know what, Americans have choices, and they ve got to make a choice, Chaffetz said. And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on, maybe they should invest in their own health care. A monthly payment plan for an iPhone is under $30 while health insurance costs over $200 a month. Far more than millions of Americans can afford, even if they didn t buy an iPhone. In fact, it would take approximately ten months to save up for just one month of health insurance coverage.And now another Republican lawmaker has an idea that is just as asinine and just as heartless, and it s one of the reasons why the Affordable Care Act was passed in the first place.Emergency room care has bankrupted many Americans over the years. That s because many people can t afford health insurance to pay for check-ups and annual physicals or get preventive care. So minor health issues become emergency health crises. The average price of a single emergency room visit is $2,168. And that means such visits can cost more than that, even if all you have is indigestion that causes chest pains.These costs can cripple people financially, and that s why the Affordable Care Act was passed, so that low income Americans would finally have access to affordable health insurance they can use to visit their doctors regularly.Republicans like North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, however, think emergency room care is perfect coverage.First, Meadows told CNN host Alisyn Camerota that he agrees with Chaffetz s remark about iPhones. Well, they re already making choices now for those kind of things, Meadows said. I ve talked to a number of people having to make choices between, you know, do they put food on the table or pay for the health care? Right, so repealing the Affordable Care Act would mean millions of Americans would have to once again choose between feeding themselves and their families or paying for healthcare.Then Meadows spewed a bunch of bullshit about how Republicans are going to cover more people at less cost. We re all in to help to make sure we get more people covered at less cost. And so that s a choice that I don t want any American to make. I certainly don t want my family to make. As we look at that health care coverage, and certainly health care in general, it s something we need to make sure it s something everybody has access to. Again, by repealing the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are stripping 30 million Americans of their healthcare and will actually make healthcare costs skyrocket after the law slowed down the rising costs by reducing the number of emergency room bills that hospitals usually have to eat because patients can t afford to pay.Furthermore, Meadows went on to claim that emergency room care is the same as having health insurance. Well, we ve got 318 million people. The goal is to allow access to all. There s a federal law right now that if you show up at a hospital, you get coverage, Alisyn. And so, it s a false narrative to suggest we have people who can t go in and get coverage. It s a federal law. Here s the video via YouTube:That law is there to guarantee that anyone who needs emergency care will not be turned away. It s not meant as an umbrella insurance coverage program and could never actually be one.If Republicans seriously believe the emergency room is a suitable substitute for universal healthcare then it is clear they don t care about the health of the American people at all.It should also be pointed out that Meadows and his family do not have to worry about choosing between food and healthcare because his healthcare is covered by the government and paid for by taxpayers.Basically, Republicans think it s okay for them to have government-provided healthcare, but everyone else should be forced to rely on overcrowded emergency rooms. It s time to change that, and we can start by taking healthcare away from Republicans like Meadows. Because if America can t have universal healthcare paid for by the government, our elected officials shouldn t get it either.Featured image via sreenshot | 1 |
BEIJING (Reuters) - If Chinese President Xi Jinping was trying to impress U.S. President Donald Trump with lavish treatment during his visit to Beijing, it appears to have worked. Trump was effusive in his praise of Xi and China, even speaking admiringly of Beijing s ability to run up a huge trade surplus at U.S. expense, which Trump blamed on his predecessors. He described as tremendous his meetings with Xi on topics including trade, North Korea and controlling opioids, despite the lack of major breakthroughs on easing access to China for U.S. companies or further pressuring North Korea to halt its pursuit of nuclear weapons. My feeling toward you is an incredibly warm one, Trump said, standing beside Xi. The two had spent the previous afternoon and evening with their wives, touring the Forbidden City and dining there, a privilege rarely extended to visiting leaders. As we said, there s great chemistry, and I think we re going to do tremendous things, both for China and the United States, Trump said. That chemistry took shape in April, when the two first met at Trump s Mar-a-Lago resort, softening the edges on sharp differences over trade and North Korea, and concern in the West over an increasingly prosperous China s growing assertiveness. While Trump enjoys a chummy, golfing-buddy relationship with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, he has shown admiration for autocratic leaders such as Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. Stylistically, the leaders of the world s two largest economies are opposites: Xi is scripted and cautious, cultivating a down-to-earth image; Trump, a developer and reality TV star before his upset election win a year ago, is known for his off-the-cuff style, freewheeling tweets, and rhetorical hyperbole, both negative and positive. The two also face different political realities at home: Xi has never been more powerful, solidifying his grip at a twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress last month; Trump is saddled with low public approval ratings and dogged by investigations into Russian links to his election campaign, though he and his aides claim credit for the U.S. stock market s record highs. But Trump appears to recognize the clout that China - and by extension, Xi - wields as a rising power, recently likening Xi to a king - and is convinced he needs Beijing s leverage with North Korea to deal with his biggest global security challenge. The transactional currying of favor cuts both ways: China is eager to deflect U.S. pressure to do more on North Korea, and to avoid an escalation in trade tensions that seemed inevitable after Trump, during his presidential campaign, accused China of raping the United States with its trade practices. China attaches great importance to guanxi (personal relationships) and it s especially important, given you have a top-down approach to leadership in China, to see Xi get on so well with a foreign leader, said Wang Huiyao, head of the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank. It s much easier to tackle structural problems with a good atmosphere, he said. Some of their more personal exchanges won prominent play in Chinese social media, including the video of Trump s granddaughter singing to Grandpa Xi and Grandma Peng . An exchange between the two leaders in the Forbidden City when Xi explained to Trump that China has the longest unbroken cultural history of any current nation was especially popular. We are called the descendants of dragons, Xi tells Trump. That s great, Trump replies and laughs. Trump went so far as to call Xi a very special man in a joint briefing on Thursday, and seemed so enthusiastic that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was asked if Trump had been too deferential. I didn t detect that at all, Tillerson said. However, the White House yielded to Beijing s wish that the two leaders not take questions during a joint press statement. Xi did not openly reciprocate Trump s personal praise, maintaining his usual stern demeanor, although he grinned when Trump said he did not blame China for the trade gap and again when he said Xi was someone who got things done. I don t blame China, Trump said of the trade deficit. Who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit of their citizens? I give China great credit. | 0 |
When will the libs start Delta Smelt shaming and demand answers from the left for putting a fish before the lives and livelihood of so many TV cop Tom Selleck may or may not have improperly swiped precious water by the magnum, but he didn t commit a crime, real California cops told NBC News on Wednesday.Selleck, the 70-year-old star of Blue Bloods and formerly of Magnum, P.I., and his wife, Jillie, were sued this week by the Calleguas Municipal Water District in Ventura County for allegedly sending a water tender like the giant tanker trucks used to supply fire engines to siphon off tankloads of water from a public hydrant at a construction site at least 12 times over the last two years.The water district said in its suit that it hired a real private investigator who several times observed the same water tender leave the 61-acre ranch the fictional P.I. owns in the ritzy Hidden Valley area of Ventura County, which is in a different water district and was assessed last year at more than $10 million (and was once owned by Dean Martin).The suit says the water district sent cease-and-desist letters to Selleck after its investigator spotted the truck at the hydrant eight times the week of Sept. 29, 2013.But the truck showed up again in December of that year, and was tracked as it proceeded to Selleck s property, according to the suit.Then, on four straight days just last March, the same truck again drained tankloads of water from the construction site and delivered it to the Selleck ranch, the suit says. The suit seeks an order forcing Selleck to stop using the district s water, plus reimbursement for the $21,685.55 it paid the investigator, with damages and other costs.But the suit is a civil action, not a criminal case. Ventura County sheriff s Capt. John Riley meanwhile told NBC News that the sheriff s office did investigate allegations of criminal water theft, but we are unable to establish a crime was committed. The Ventura County district attorney s office also confirmed that no case has been referred to it for prosecution.Selleck hasn t responded to requests for comment, and it s unknown whether he has anything to do with the water truck, which is registered under a commercial license.Eric Bergh, the water district s manager of resources, said the suit wasn t meant to be an example of drought shaming, a peculiarly California activity in which people suspected of hogging water are publicly called out. Our policies have been on the books for decades, Bergh said. We just want any such activity to stop that is the bottom line for us. It s really about doing the right thing and preserving our water supply for our users. Via: CNBC | 0 |
HONG KONG — Taiwan scrambled fighter jets and dispatched a frigate to the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday after China sent its sole aircraft carrier into the waterway, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported. The transit of the aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, came amid rising tensions between Taiwan and China after Donald J. Trump broke decades of protocol by speaking on the phone with Taiwan’s president, Tsai after his election victory. Ms. Tsai leads a political party that has traditionally supported Taiwan’s formal independence from China. Ms. Tsai, who is visiting Central America this week, made two calls to officials in Taiwan seeking updates on the Liaoning’s transit, the Central News Agency reported, citing Alex Huang, the president’s spokesman. China’s decision to send the carrier through the waterway that separates it from Taiwan reflects an early foreign policy challenge for Mr. Trump. “It’s a show of force, and I think it is intended in part to intimidate, and that’s worrisome from the U. S. and Taiwan’s point of view because we don’t know how much more they are going to ratchet up these pressures and tensions,” said Bonnie S. Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “If the Trump administration does see this as a test of U. S. resolve, I suspect they’ll push back pretty forcefully. ” China sent the carrier, which had been conducting exercises in the South China Sea, into the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday morning. Taiwan’s response was the third time in three days that air forces in the region had scrambled jets in response to Chinese military activity, after Japan and South Korea deployed fighters on Monday. Those actions occurred when a squadron of six Chinese bombers and two other aircraft flew over the waters that separate Japan and South Korea and over the Sea of Japan. Taiwan, considered by Beijing to be Chinese territory, has been governed separately since 1949, when the forces of the Nationalist leader Chiang fled to the island after their defeat on the mainland by the Communists. China views any assertion of Taiwan’s separateness from the mainland — like Ms. Tsai’s call with Mr. Trump — as an affront to its claim of sovereignty. Since 1979, the United States has recognized the government in Beijing and broke off formal diplomatic ties to Taiwan as part of the One China policy. In the wake of the call, China warned the incoming president against making changes to that policy after he takes office on Jan. 20. Liu Zhenmin, a Chinese vice foreign minister, said on Wednesday that the Taiwan Strait was an international waterway and that it was normal for the Liaoning to pass though it. The passage would not have any effect on relations, he said in remarks carried in the Chinese news media. Mark C. Toner, a State Department spokesman, told reporters in Washington in response to a question about the Liaoning’s passage through the strait that the United States “wouldn’t have a problem” with countries sailing their vessels in international waters as long as it was done in accordance with international law. It also was not the first time the Liaoning had sailed through the strait: It passed through in November 2013 on its way to the South China Sea after having been commissioned only the year before. In that instance, the carrier kept to the western half of the strait, closer to mainland China. In a statement on Wednesday morning, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said that the Liaoning was also staying to the west of the strait’s middle and urged citizens to remain calm. A transit on the eastern side, closer to Taiwan, would be viewed as much more provocative. Euan Graham, the director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, said that for the Chinese, traveling through the strait was a logical way to move from one area of fleet operations to another along its long coastline. In order for warships based in northern ports, like the Liaoning, to return home from southern waters, they must either pass close to Japanese islands or transit the Taiwan Strait. “Geography forces a very binary choice,” he said. Mr. Graham said it was important to see how the Liaoning conducted its passage. If it had aircraft on deck and was conducting flight operations, that would be seen as more provocative than if it passed through the strait with the aircraft in its hangar bay, he said. The Liaoning, commissioned in 2012 and built from a Soviet hull, is China’s first aircraft carrier. In past decades, the United States has shown its resolve to defend Taiwan by sailing carriers through the Taiwan Strait. In 1995, the aircraft carrier Nimitz transited the strait amid heightened tensions after Beijing conducted missile exercises in the waters. China’s military is highly secretive, but it would seem inconceivable for the Liaoning to pass through such contested waters without approval from the president, Xi Jinping, who is also the chairman of the Central Military Commission, which controls the military. And the Chinese military media has described the aircraft carrier as embodying Mr. Xi’s plans for a stronger navy, capable of projecting force far beyond China’s territorial waters. Last Thursday, the front page of People’s Liberation Army Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military, featured a report about the aircraft carrier’s latest journey under the headline, “We’re sailing under the leader’s attentive gaze,” a clear tribute to Mr. Xi. Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, said in a news conference on Wednesday that the Liaoning’s passage was part of the ship’s scheduled training in the western Pacific, which had begun on Dec. 24. Mr. Ma also said that the relationship in the coming year would face “increasing uncertainty, looming risks and challenges. ” He added that Taiwan’s government and “independence forces” there had “seriously threatened the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” accusing them of engaging in separatist activities and warning that China would “resolutely safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. ” The aircraft carrier’s passage was part of a cluster of recent acts by the Chinese military that have raised hackles in the region. Last month, a Chinese warship seized an underwater drone belonging to the United States Navy about 50 miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines. The drone was returned after the Obama administration publicly chided China over the seizure. On Monday, Japan said it had sent fighter jets into the air after Chinese bombers and surveillance planes flew over the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan. “When China was militarily weaker, Japan considered that area to be its backyard,” said Ni Lexiong, a naval affairs researcher at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. “This was a way of telling Japan that if there ever is conflict, the location of any future battle space won’t be decided by you and America. We have the initiative. So Japan, don’t think of meddling further afield in Taiwan or the South China Sea. ” | 0 |
Former President Bill Clinton has been known to put hecklers in their place before, and he did it again on Tuesday when someone dared to diss Obamacare at a Florida rally.The heckler was seen shouting at Clinton for his previous remarks, in which the protester claimed he had called Obamacare the craziest thing in the world. This rubbed Clinton the wrong way, and he was noticeably irritated with the accusation as he responded to the accuser. Clinton fired back, completely shutting down the claim that he d want to repeal President Barack Obama s health care law: What are you asking? That is not at all what I said. Oh really? Go read it. Go read it. And don t read it on the internet, don t read it on the internet, get the whole thing. First, I campaigned hard for that law. Second, I risked losing the Congress to pass universal health care. Thirdly, I defended President Obama in 2010 and 2012 and he went up 5 points in the polls after I defended what he did with health care. Clinton had far more to say though, and it seemed like the heckler had opened up the floodgates. The former president went on to say that what is REALLY crazy is the Republicans who have actively tried to stop reforms in America s health care system. He continued to clarify: We shouldn t be in denial, the president said the same thing. I didn t say a thing that the president hadn t already said, or that the health care people in his administration hadn t already said in his administration. This protester had merely been piggy-backing off of the comments that Republican nominee Donald Trump had seized upon. Trump tried to twist Clinton s words as proof that Obamacare was awful and needed to be repealed when he said: President Bill Clinton came out and told the truth about Obamacare. He s absolutely trashed President Obama s signature legislation. Remember, Hillary Clinton called Obamacare one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party and of our country. Give me a break. Clinton has denied that he was criticizing Obamacare, and this confrontation with a heckler sets the record straight:Featured image via Steve Pope / Getty Images | 1 |
LONDON (Reuters) - The trilateral meeting between Iran, Russia and Turkey in the Russian resort of Sochi this week was a right step, at the right time for stability in Syria, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. Russia s Vladimir Putin won the backing of Turkey and Iran on Wednesday to host a Syrian peace congress, taking the central role in a major diplomatic push to finally end a civil war all but won by Assad. Sochi summit was a right step at the right time, Rouhani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA on Saturday in a phone call with Tehran s main regional ally. He said a national congress to hold face-to-face talks between government and opposition could be a step towards stability and security of Syria. Iran has signed large economic contracts with Syria, reaping what appear to be lucrative rewards for helping Assad in his fight against rebel groups and Islamic State militants. Tehran is ready to have an active role in reconstruction of Syria, Rouhani added. The chief commander of Iran s Revolutionary Guards, who has sent weapons and thousands of soldiers to Syria to prop up Assad s regime, also said on Thursday that their forces were ready to help rebuild Syria and bring about a lasting ceasefire there. Syria s six-year civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee in the worst refugee crisis since World War Two. In a joint statement in Sochi, the three leaders called on the Syrian government and moderate opposition to participate constructively in the planned congress, to be held in the same city on a date they did not specify. Saudi Arabia, Iran s arch rival in the Middle East, also sponsored a meeting on Wednesday at a luxury hotel in Riyadh for the Syrian opposition groups. Regional tensions have risen in recent weeks between Sunni Muslim monarchy Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran. Saudi Crown Prince called the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the new Hitler of the Middle East in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday. Israel also views Iran as the main threat in the region, and a cabinet minister said this month Israel has had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia. It is very odd that a regional country considers Iranian nation as its enemy and the Zionist regime as its friend, Rouhani told Assad in the call. The next round of U.N.-backed peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the Syrian civil war will begin on Nov. 28. | 0 |
GARNER, Iowa/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Farmers in the U.S. agricultural heartland that helped elect Donald Trump are now pushing his administration to avoid a trade dispute with Mexico, fearing retaliatory tariffs that could hit over $3 billion in U.S. exports. The value of exports at risk is based on a Reuters analysis of a tariff list which Mexico used in a trucking dispute six years ago and which Mexican officials have said could serve as a model if President Trump sets new barriers to Mexican goods. Pork producers contacted Trump’s transition team soon after the Nov. 8 election to stress that tariff-free access to Mexico has made it their top export market by volume, said John Weber, president of the National Pork Producers Council. The council has sent the administration multiple letters, including one signed in January by 133 agricultural organizations, and is arranging for several hog farmers to fly to Washington next month to talk to officials. “We just keep pounding them on how critical trade is to us,” said Weber, who fears Mexico could revive the list of mostly agricultural products it successfully used to push Washington into letting Mexican truckers on U.S. highways in 2011. Pork products topped that list and, if revived, the tariffs would apply to over $800 million of annual pork exports, according to data compiled by IHS Markit’s Global Trade Atlas. “We’ll be the first to take the hit,” Weber said. The lobbying effort by U.S. businesses which rely on the Mexican market shows how Mexico can press its case in Washington despite having an economy 1/17 the size of America’s and relying on the U.S. market for nearly 80 percent if its exports. In Iowa, where pigs outnumber people seven to one, hog and grain farmer Jamie Schmidt voted for Trump in part on his promise to cut regulatory burdens for businesses. Now he and others who farm the flat, rich land around Garner, Iowa, worry about trade. Schmidt gets about half of his income from hogs, earning $4-5 for each of the 425 pigs he sells per week, usually to a Tyson Foods (TSN.N) packing plant in nearby Perry, Iowa. Tariffs from Mexico could depress U.S. wholesale prices and wipe out his profits, Schmidt said. “It would be devastating.” In December, after fears of a trade dispute fueled a deep peso MXN= slump, Mexico started mapping out U.S. states that are most reliant on its market, replicating the strategy it used in the trucking dispute, said two senior Mexican officials. Mexican officials also prepared briefs, seen by Reuters, on Mexico’s own risks in a dispute, including losing much of its cost advantage in building cars, such as the Ford Fusion (F.N) made in Hermosillo, Mexico. Reuters could not verify a complete list of products and states Mexico considered targeting this time around. But the country’s foreign minister said last month tariffs could target Iowa, which raises a third of U.S. hogs and exports about a quarter of its pork production, $100 million of which went to Mexico last year. The minister also said tariffs could aim at Wisconsin, the center of U.S. cheese production, and has singled out Texas for its “notable” trade surplus with Mexico. All three states voted for Trump in the 2016 election, with the president taking Iowa and Wisconsin by slim margins. Trump has accused Mexico of destroying U.S. jobs and has vowed to leave the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico if he cannot renegotiate better terms with Mexico. United States went from running a small trade surplus with Mexico in the early 1990s to a $63 billion deficit in 2016. Besides pork, cheese was also a top target in the trucking dispute in which Mexico retaliated with tariffs against rules that banned its trucks from U.S. roads. Some $200 million in current annual exports of cheese would be targeted if the tariff list were revived, according to the IHS database, which the U.S. government uses to measure the impact of trade disputes. The full tariff list would apply to $3.25 billion in current U.S. exports. John Holevoet, the director of government affairs at Wisconsin’s Dairy Business Association, said he has attended multiple meetings with Wisconsin federal lawmakers this year where risks of Mexican trade were discussed. Weber of the pork producers group said he believed the Trump administration “gets it” when it comes to the vulnerability of U.S. farm exports. Republican Congressman Steve King, who represents Iowa’s agriculture-focused fourth district, also pointed out that Iowa’s role as the first state to hold presidential primaries helps keep farm interests in Washington’s view. But King told Reuters he was worried the White House is still not taking trade risks seriously enough. A possible 20 percent tax on Mexican imports, which White House spokesman Sean Spicer has said could also pay for Trump’s proposed border wall, would cause a trade war, he said. King said he has been in contact with the White House on the matter but has yet to secure a one-on-one meeting with the president. “I’m making sure that here in Washington they know what this means.” | 1 |
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SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - Seoul and Beijing on Tuesday agreed to move beyond a year-long stand-off over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, a dispute that has been devastating to South Korean businesses that rely on Chinese consumers. The unexpected detente comes just days before U.S. President Donald Trump begins a trip to Asia, where the North Korean nuclear crisis will take center stage, and helped propel South Korean stocks to a record high. The installation of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system had angered China, with South Korea s tourism, cosmetics and entertainment industries bearing the brunt of a Chinese backlash, although Beijing has never specifically linked that to the THAAD deployment. Beijing worries the THAAD system s powerful radar can penetrate into Chinese territory. Both sides shared the view that the strengthening of exchange and cooperation between Korea and China serves their common interests and agreed to expeditiously bring exchange and cooperation in all areas back on a normal development track, South Korea s foreign ministry said in a statement. Before the THAAD dispute, bilateral relations flourished, despite Beijing s historic alliance with North Korea and Seoul s close ties with Washington, which includes hosting 28,500 U.S. troops. China is South Korea s biggest trading partner. At this critical moment all stakeholders should be working together to address the North Korea nuclear challenge instead of creating problems for others, said Wang Dong, associate professor of international studies at China s Peking University. This sends a very positive signal that Beijing and Seoul are determined to improve their relations. As part of the agreement, South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries in Vietnam on Nov. 10-11. South Korea recognized China s concerns over THAAD and made it clear the deployment was not aimed at any third country and did not harm China s strategic security interests, China s foreign ministry said. China reiterated its opposition to the deployment of THAAD, but noted South Korea s position and hoped South Korea could appropriately handle the issue, it added. China s position on the THAAD issue is clear, consistent and has not changed, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily briefing in Beijing. The thaw is a big relief for South Korean tourism and retail firms as well as K-pop stars and makers of films and soap operas, which had found themselves unofficially unwelcome in China over the past year. In South Korea, a halving of inbound Chinese tourists in the first nine months of the year cost the economy $6.5 billion in lost revenue based on the average spending of Chinese visitors in 2016, data from the Korea Tourism Organization shows. The spat knocked about 0.4 percentage points off this year s expected economic growth, according to the Bank of Korea, which now forecasts an expansion of 3 percent. The sprawling Lotte Group, which provided the land where the THAAD battery was installed and is a major operator of hotels and duty free stores, has been hardest hit. It faces a costly overhaul and is expected to sell its Chinese hypermarket stores for a fraction of what it invested. A spokesman for holding company Lotte Corp expressed hope that South Korean firms activity in China would improve following the announcement. An official at Seoul s presidential Blue House, who declined to be named given the sensitivity of the matter, said improvements for South Korean companies would come slowly. Shares in South Korean tourism and retail companies rallied nonetheless, with Asiana Airlines gaining 3.6 percent and Lotte Shopping up 7.14 percent. The benchmark Kospi index hit a record for a third straight day, gaining 0.9 percent. China has grown increasingly angry with North Korea s ongoing pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in defiance of United Nations sanctions, even as it chafes at U.S. pressure to rein in its isolated ally. The recent deterioration in ties between China and North Korea may have contributed to Tuesday s agreement, the Blue House official said. Pyongyang has undertaken an unprecedented missile testing program in recent months, as well as its biggest nuclear test yet in early September, as it seeks to develop a powerful nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. The head of NATO on Tuesday urged all United Nations members to fully and transparently implement sanctions against North Korea. North Korea s ballistic and nuclear tests are an affront to the United Nations Security Council, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Tokyo, where he met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Separately, a South Korean lawmaker said North Korea probably stole South Korean warship blueprints after hacking into a local shipbuilder s database last April. Expectations had been growing for a warming in the frosty bilateral ties following this month s conclave of China s Communist Party, during which Xi cemented his status as China s most powerful leader after Mao Zedong. Earlier this month, South Korea and China agreed to renew a $56 billion currency swap agreement, while Chinese airlines are reportedly planning to restore flight routes to South Korea that had been cut during the spat. Tuesday s agreement came after high-level talks led by Nam Gwan-pyo, deputy director of national security of the Blue House, and Kong Xuanyou, assistant foreign minister of China and the country s special envoy for North Korea-related matters. | 0 |
If we lived in normal political times, our new president would be enjoying his honeymoon period, those few blissful weeks of good will and high hopes that usually accompany the start of an administration. Instead, the election of Donald J. Trump to the nation’s highest office has provoked an opposition movement that is extraordinary in American history, with millions of people devoted to stopping whatever it is he might want to do. The declarations began early on, with one key word echoing across them. “We are going to resist, we are going to oppose,” the filmmaker Michael Moore announced on the Friday after Trump’s election. “This is going to be a massive resistance. ” The following week, the former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann began a new video series titled “The Resistance. ” In December, a group of former Democratic congressional staff members published a pamphlet titled “Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda,” calling on liberals and leftists to emulate the most effective tactics of the Tea Party. On Twitter, hashtags like #ResistTrump, #NewAmericanResistance and #TheResistance document the range of concerns and movements now assembling under one banner: climate change, net neutrality, Black Lives Matter, reproductive and immigrant and disability rights. The Women’s March made all of this spectacularly visible, with a show of defiance intended to put the president on notice. “Today is not a concert,” the march organizer Tamika Mallory told the crowd gathered in Washington. “It is not a parade. And it is not a party. Today is an act of resistance. ” Days later, activists unfurled a banner from a crane behind the White House, with just one word printed on it: RESIST. As the term of choice for the emerging coalition, “resistance” signals urgency, the desire to stand up and say no before it’s too late. At the same time, it concedes some ground: With Republicans controlling all three branches of government, “no” may be the only position available to Democrats, leftists and liberals. To resist is to do something negative — to push back against someone else’s agenda when your own back is up against the wall. It is a desperate word for desperate times, filled with limits as well as possibilities. A call to resist is different from a call to “organize” or — to borrow a word from the Age of Obama — to “dream. ” Those words conjure visions of better worlds. Resistance names what you don’t want and leaves the vision thing for another, less urgent situation. It suggests a notably dark story about the next four years, one in which Democrats and liberals spend most of their time in a defensive crouch. Resistance evokes the struggle against totalitarianism, conveying personal defiance and official powerlessness at the same time. So what does it mean to apply that word in an ostensibly democratic system? If you’ve lost at the ballot box but aren’t seeking revolution, what are the most useful forms of political action? If “yes” seems impossible but “no” seems insufficient, what fills the space between? Before Trump’s election, anyone who claimed to have been a member of “the resistance” was most likely over the age of 85, a veteran of struggles in France and other territories during World War II. That resistance involved armed conflict and personal risk of the bleakest sort, with guerrilla fighters hiding in the catacombs of Paris while Hitler’s forces did their worst above ground. Under fascist rule, there were no plausible options for political engagement. It was a fight to the death, and in early 1940s Europe, before the arrival of Allied troops, the outcome was far from certain. Talking about resistance still evokes this sense of honorable struggle against an occupying power. It implies patience as well as militancy, the ability to say no over and over and over again, to refuse to cooperate until the whole system crumbles. After the war, anticolonial movements from South Africa to Northern Ireland found their own strategies of resistance, settling in for long, sometimes bloody fights. The United States introduced its own peculiar twist on this idea, transforming a rallying cry of liberation into a defense of white supremacy. In 1954, after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, white Southerners opted for “massive resistance” — a phrase coined by former Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia to describe the determined and bitter campaign to prevent the desegregation of Southern society. “Massive resistance” defended the racial status quo, but it adopted the language of rebellion, casting the federal government itself as an illegitimate occupying power. The American left created a different language of resistance, much of it focused around the activities of groups like the War Resisters League. This sensibility reached its peak in the late 1960s, during the Vietnam War, when student activists proclaimed a transition, per one slogan, “from Protest to Resistance. ” As the movement veterans Staughton Lynd and Michael Ferber pointed out in their 1971 book, “The Resistance,” that shift grew out of a desire to embrace “a deeper and riskier commitment, a move that warranted a new term to replace ‘dissent’ and ‘protest. ’’u2009” The goal was no longer simply to object to the war it was to throw a wrench into the war machine and make it stop. Antiwar activists continued to engage in peaceful protest — but now some also burned draft cards and firebombed R. O. T. C. centers. A small number, like the Weathermen, took up bona fide guerrilla activity, planting bombs at the Capitol, the Pentagon and other prominent buildings. As the war and its stakes came to an end, so, too, did the embrace of resistance as a literal armed underground conspiracy. But while it faded as a political strategy, it began to gain prominence as a category of academic social analysis, the sort of thing that anthropologists and historians looked for in their studies of human societies. This was part of a broader trend toward “social history,” with its insistence that ordinary people — not just generals and politicians — could be the agents of serious historical change. Sometimes this meant studying organized revolts, like slave rebellions or peasant uprisings. By the 1980s, though, “resistance” had come to encompass a much broader set of behaviors. Enslaved or oppressed people might resist by taking up arms, but they might also resist simply by refusing to do as they were told. The political theorist James Scott called these “everyday forms of resistance” — a category that could include giving a sullen look to an employer, deliberately misfiling forms or just living life, as much as possible, on terms of your own choosing. Today’s “New American Resistance” seems to embrace at least some of this broader understanding. Joining it does not, thus far, require adherence to any particular ideology or set of tactical preferences. It simply means, in the biggest of formulations, that you really don’t like Donald Trump, and you’re willing to do something about it. As a enterprise, designed to achieve the greatest possible participation, this mode of resistance makes sense. But despite its good cheer, it still emphasizes what is not possible: It says that Trump is about to take a sledgehammer to the nation’s finest institutions and principles and that the only thing most citizens can do is shout “no” as loudly as possible. Many organizers have vowed that this yawp of dissent represents a beginning rather than an end — and history suggests that they may well be right. Some of the most significant shifts in modern American law and political culture came out of efforts birthed in panic and despair. During World War I, for instance, the United States banned criticism of the government, interned thousands of German Americans and instituted widespread surveillance of immigrants and political radicals. Many Americans supported these policies others feared that the country was abandoning cherished traditions of tolerance and free speech. In response, a small group of alarmed progressives founded an organization that came to be known as the American Civil Liberties Union. They lost many early courtroom battles, but their vision of a nation in which “civil liberties” were taken seriously eventually changed the face of American law and politics. There are conservative versions of this story, too. In the at a moment when the liberal consensus seemed to be at its height, William F. Buckley Jr. announced plans to “stand athwart history, yelling ‘Stop! ’’u2009” His new magazine, National Review, did not stop history, but it did provide a crucial platform for conservatives to think about where they wanted history to go. The budding movement set its sights on taking over the Republican Party and spent decades making that happen — turning resistance into concrete political success. Today even Buckley’s form of conservatism seems to be under assault by the Trump administration. It is at just those moments when old categories start to collapse, however, that room often opens up for something new. A nascent resistance, right now, is delivering an unusually loud and impassioned “no. ” But the mere act of refusal often turns out to have its own momentum. As people learn that they can indeed say “no,” they may begin to find new ways toward saying “yes. ” | 0 |
Chris Christie s campaign has signaled that the New Jersey governor has finally read the writing on the wall and will announce the end of presidential campaign soon. It s surely a victory for America (although probably disappointing for New Jersey residents) to see Christie return from whence he came, but amid the celebrations let s remember: There were some good times too.Like when Christie single-handedly destroyed Marco Rubio s chances of ever being president.It will go down in history as one of 2016 s defining political moments. Live and on the debate stage, a combative Christie managed to utterly embarrass the ill-prepared, shallow Marco Rubio in a matter of seconds. In an election that has been far too consumed with cheap talking points and heavily-rehearsed performance art, we got to see, in that instant, the moment two candidates stopped being polite and started being real.Rubio crumpled and it was painful to watch.It s hard to know what Rubio was thinking after getting so completely shut down in fairness, it s hard to think above the noise of whirring of gears and CPU cooling fans but afterwards the effect was clear. The candidate most journalists had already ordained as the presumptive Republican nominee was dead in the water. Rubio s campaign limps on, but in the way a ghost might if his end was so sudden he never realized he died at all.The Washington Post s Dana Milbank puts it better:Tuesday night, Rubio proved true the axiom popularized by Alan Simpson, the wisecracking former senator from Wyoming: One day you re the toast of the town, the next you re toast. Now, to be clear, let s not give Christie too much credit for his kamikaze finish. The infamous blowhard was and remains a complete asshole. His quest to take down his opponents doesn t stem from some higher moral principles he just likes being a bully. Returning to New Jersey, he will go on being a bully. That s Christie s whole shtick. In this light, Christie s Rubio takedown was a Joker-like desire just to see the world burn. He takes down Rubio because he can, not because he wants to.But regardless of motives, Christie was a refreshing change of pace. Trump also insults his fellow candidates, but his diminished intellect and massive ego mean that they are typically low-blows, potshots and vulgarity. Christie, having practiced the artform numerous times against teachers and nurses, is capable of bullying on the next level.Now Christie returns to New Jersey, a place where most residents despise him and most attorneys have grown fat off his nearly-endless stream of self-induced scandals. At one time he was considered a Republican frontrunner. It never panned out. Instead, he ll have to be content with the idea that while there will never be a Chris Christie White House, there won t be a Marco Rubio one either thanks to him.We all have our parts to play. Maybe this one is Christie s.Feature image from screengrab | 1 |
Stephen Moore has been a regular contributor to FOX News and is now a Trump campaign economic adviser. He recently debated the most liberal hack economist on the planet and kicked his a$$:WATCH LYING LIBERAL ECONOMIST Get Hammered By TRUMP S Economic Advisor [Video]He questions the Republican turncoats on what they re doing to the conservative movement by not supporting Trump:I asked a successful businessman the other day what he thought about Donald Trump. He turned his thumb down. Wow. Are you going to vote for Hillary? I asked with trepidation. Of course not, he replied almost insulted by the question. I understand the concept of a binary decision. I got a similar response when I asked oil magnate T. Boone Pickens whether he would vote for Mr. Trump. He looked at me with a quizzical look on his face and replied: Well, who else is there to vote for? Right. Who else is there? Yet amazingly a caucus of lifelong Republican politicos in Washington are announcing to the world with defiance and self-righteousness that they will vote for Hillary Clinton. They are mostly former Romney and Bush operatives. They lost and now they want people to believe that their anti-Trumpism is an act of heroism and principle. They ingratiate themselves to The New York Times, The Washington Post and Team Clinton the sworn enemies of free markets and conservative values. Somehow this doesn t offend their moral compass. I certainly don t mean to disparage conservatives who say they won t vote for Mr. Trump. One s vote is a matter of personal conscience. But to actively support Hillary is to put the other team s jersey on and then run a lap around the stadium. It s worth, because none of the arguments make much sense. First, many say that Trump can t win it s hopeless. These are the same political geniuses who a year ago assured us that Mr. Trump could never win a primary (he won most of them), then that he couldn t win 50 percent of the vote (he did), then that he couldn t win 50 percent outside of New York (he did), then they said he couldn t win a majority of the delegates (he did) On every occasion the Trump haters were wrong. How about a little humility since they are batting 0.00. The Trump can t win mantra isn t just wrong, it s subversive. Of course, he can win. He is running against Hillary Clinton for goodness sakes. So why do they say this? Because the never Trumpers want Trump to lose because he is to the political class (Republicans and Democrats) the disruptor that Uber is to taxicab drivers. Second is the complaint by some economists that Mr. Trump can t be supported because he is not for free trade. Longtime Washington insider Vin Weber reportedly recently said: The world economic order and the Republican Party would be all in shambles if Mr. Trump wins. I think markets would collapse. Really? Hillary Clinton flip flops every day on free trade, so why is it that only Mr. Trump would cause a recession? He doesn t get that the Trump movement is a revolt against the world order. Mr. Trump is calling for the biggest tax cut since Ronald Reagan. He is for regulatory relief and school choice. Mr. Trump wants to kill Obamacare. Mr. Trump wants a pro-America drilling policy on energy. Hillary wants to soak the rich, increase the debt, stop energy development, expand entitlements and double down on Obamacare. How is this a difficult choice for a free marketeer? Third, the Trump haters say we must throw Mr. Trump over the bus in order to save the Senate and House majorities. This is a foolhardy strategy because one can t win without the other. As economist Donald Luskin puts it in his historical analysis of presidential races and Senate gains: It is clear from history that the House and the Senate always move in the same party direction as the White House, and with the same magnitude. That means the presidential candidate is like a boat that congressional candidates are riding on. It s really stupid to torpedo that boat. Finally, there is the view expressed by Bret Stephens, my former colleague at The Wall Street Journal, who wants to make sure Trump is the biggest loser in presidential history so that we can rebuild the conservative movement. Bret, if Obama/Hillary win a third straight presidential race, there won t be a conservative movement left to rebuild. The Republicans will move to the left. Worse, for President Obama to win effectively a third term will be a voter validation of all of the destructive policies of the last eight years. Do the never Trumpers want to facilitate that? Do they want to hand the left its greatest victory for liberal governance of all time? If they do, they, not Trump, are the unforgivable betrayers of conservative principles. Stephen Moore is an economic consultant with Freedom Works and a senior economic adviser to the Trump campaign. | 0 |
A Michigan woman decided to defend against tyranny? when she and another shopper couldn t agree over who got to buy the last notebook on the shelf at the Novi Towne Center store.According to ABC 13, the brawl yes, brawl involved two Farmington Hills residents, ages 46 and 32, and a mother and daughter from South Lyon, ages 51 and 20. In other words, these were all grown adults who should have known better but hey there was only one notebook on the shelf, and we ve all seen what happens in those post-apocalyptic movies when a store is down to the last gallon of milk, right?Two of the women, one of whom was the unnamed 20-year-old, reached for the notebook at the same time. The 46 and 32-year-olds apparently decided that she wasn t getting their goddamn notebook and began pulling her hair.Then, because this had almost hit peak trailer park, the 20-year-old s mother decided to go for bonus points by pulling out her gun. Fortunately, someone pushed her aside before she could do any harm.This is one of the NRA s responsible gun owners (conservatives can t dismiss this one, as it is confirmed that she is a concealed carry permit holder) ready to leap into action at the most minor sign of danger and make things worse by turning the situation potentially deadly.Watch it happen below:Featured image via screengrab | 0 |
CAYENNE (Reuters) - French president Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he was fully supportive of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, regarding the crisis taking place in Catalonia. The Spanish government moved to impose direct rule over Catalonia, stripping the region of its autonomy less than an hour after its parliament declared independence in a stunning show of defiance. I have always said that I have one interlocutor in Spain, it is Prime Minister Rajoy, Macron told journalists on the sidelines of a visit to French Guiana. There is a rule of law in Spain with constitutional rules. Mariano Rajoy wants these rules to be respected and he has my full support, Macron added. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who was accompanying Macron, also said it was important to avoid any splits and fractures in the European Union bloc. I do not want a situation where, tomorrow, the European Union is made up of 95 different states. We need to avoid splits, because we already have enough splits and fractures and we do not need any more, said Juncker. The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, also voiced support to Rajoy earlier on Friday. | 1 |
When asked why they re protesting, these foolish young rioters responded with, Because it s a community kind of thing. and Right now is how you gotta show your support for someone else. These young lawless radicals and others just like them across the United States, with no direction or understanding of who they re harming with their violent behavior, helped to convince Americans why it was so important to vote for a President who promised to restore law and order in America.More than 70 percent of the 112 protesters arrested in Portland last week didn t vote in Oregon, according to state election records. The other approximately 30 percent did cast a ballot in Oregon or in another state.At least seventy-nine demonstrators either didn t turn in a ballot or weren t registered to vote in the state.Following Tuesday s presidential election of Donald Trump, thousands of people took to the streets in downtown Portland for five straight notes. The activity included at least one night that the police declared to be a riot, with more than $1 million in property damage. The bulk of the arrests happened on Friday and Saturday evenings as protesters faced off against police. KGW8 | 0 |
We ve written about the amazing filmmaker, playwright and journalist, Phelim MacAleer and his fearless wife Ann McElhinney several times over the past couple of years. They ve brilliantly exposed the Left and their outrageous lies countless times. They are currently making a movie called Gosnell that will tell the truth the media hid about the crimes committed by serial killer, Dr. Kermit Gosnell. This husband and wife team are doing the work honest journalists, if they were being true to their profession, SHOULD be doing. Phelim s play Ferguson, that is now a movie, (see full-length version below) has completely dismantled the hands up don t shoot lie that was coordinated by the White House and professional race agitators. This lie of course, was perpetrated by a willing media. MacAleer does a brilliant job of dispelling these lies by simply using the actual testimony from the case.From Phelim MacAleer:These are professional actors reading the actual words of eyewitnesses detailing minute by minute what happened in the run up to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. FERGUSON the play consists of unaltered witness testimony, exactly as the Ferguson grand jury heard it. It includes forensic and medical examiner evidence that proves the truth and debunks the liars.You probably haven t missed the many and loud claims that the entertainment industry is racist and not diverse. It seems that everyone who matters agrees that diversity is a problem. Or at least that s what they say.But the reality is very different as I found when I wrote a play that offered ten roles for black men and women and even three significant roles for black women over 40 which everyone agrees can be a career death zone for women (of all races).And as a diversity bonus the play was going to be about an issue that of huge significance to the black community it was called FERGUSON and was about the shooting of Michael Brown, a young black man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.And this was to be no whitesplaining of the issue. I wrote, or rather curated, the play only using actual Grand Jury testimony of witnesses (most of them black). I didn t change their testimony at all. Not a paragraph, word or comma was added. It was to be a minute by minute account by multiple eyewitnesses of the last hours of Michael Brown s life. I decided to have a staged reading of the script over four nights at the Odyssey Theater in Santa Monica. It would be a great way for people to finally hear the truth about Ferguson in the words of the people who witnessed the whole incident.The cast were enthusiastic at the auditions there was a huge interest in the play at last the truth about Ferguson and the shooting of Michael Brown would come out. Their enthusiasm lasted until the end of the first rehearsal. According to an LA Times reporter who was present many of the actors were aghast that the truth from eyewitnesses and forensic experts didn t match their idea of what really happened or what they read in the media. It was clear from the eyewitness testimony that Michael Brown didn t have his hands up surrendering as activists claimed. It was also clear, again from black eyewitnesses, that police officer Darren Wilson had no choice but to shoot Brown who was on a mini-crime rampage that morning.These facts did not please the actors who wanted to tell a different story. However this was Verbatim Theater the story could only be told in the words of the witnesses. But the actors did not want to hear the genuine voices even if they were black and under oath. Nine of the original 13 actors walked out. Most of them were black. Then a few of the white cast walked out in sympathy one just 24 hours before the performance opened.Their walkout made a mockery of claims that there is a need for more diverse roles in the entertainment industry. This was a predominantly black cast in a play about a topic that was about an issue police shootings of black men that was of enormous interest to the black community.In reality what activists obviously meant was that they wanted black roles that pushed a left/liberal agenda. They may have wanted the actors faces to be a diverse color but they so did not want diversity of thought or ideas to be presented on the stage. No those ideas had to be shut down. And it s not as if those ideas don t get a lot of interest. The staged reading of Ferguson over a four night run in a 99-seat theater was one of the most talked about plays of the year in Los Angeles. As a writer for liberal LA Weekly put it FERGUSON achieved something almost unheard of in L.A. s stage community it moved theater from the arts section to the front page. Despite the walkout I was determined the Show Would Go On. Eventually we hired replacement cast for all the actors and the play was staged for its planned four night run. It was an enormous success.LA Weekly said Ferguson was divisive, but riveting and an incendiary night of theatre . It was covered by a huge range of media outlets including NPR, The Hollywood Reporter and Rush Limbaugh.Now that is true diversity!To ensure the truth about Ferguson reaches as big an audience as possible I have now filmed the staged reading.Please enjoy it. The truth is compelling. Phelim MacAleer | 0 |
If “Peaceful Uprising [is] a climate justice group that describes its task as ‘working to build an uncompromising movement to defend a livable future,’” why does it not recognize that there may BE no such thing?! After all, Dr. David Wasdell ( http://www.apollo-gaia.org/Har... , p. 15) wrote last year: “An increase of 1.5°C was implicit by around 1965. 2°C was implicit by about1978. So 2°C was already in the pipeline towards the end of the 1970s. Today we are under the illusion that reducing our emissions will still keep us under 2°C!”
If Dr. Wasdell is right about us living now with an “illusion,” the efforts of the Peaceful Uprising people are POINTLESS, and worse! Why doesn’t Dahr Jamail realize this? Why does he insist on keep feeding us a PARTIAL dose of the truth, not the WHOLE truth?! | 1 |
Sean Spicer resigned today from his position in President Trump s administration. He tweeted out after his resignation a very gracious message of thanks:It s been an honor & a privilege to serve @POTUS @realDonaldTrump & this amazing country. I will continue my service through August Sean Spicer (@PressSec) July 21, 2017It was speculated that it was a blow when the Trump administration announced yesterday that Anthony Scaramucci had joined the Trump administration as White House Communications Director.A few things Scaramucci move is also a blow to Spicer, who has sought to have comms director report to him, as Dubke did. No chance here Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 21, 2017NYDN reported: Spicer, who will stay on through August, told the President he vehemently disagreed with his choice for the top communications post, and his distaste was evident when reporters approached him about the appointment.ABC News White House Correspondent Johnathan Karl said the former press secretary slammed the door in my face when he questioned him on Scaramucci, chalking it up to strange times. The press is using this move as a sign that the Trump administration is collapsing and in chaos:Chris Wallace: There is a Game of Thrones quality to this @WhiteHouse; you do have various power centers that are colliding w/ each other. pic.twitter.com/9mOlVRfxEP Fox News (@FoxNews) July 21, 2017Chris Wallace speculated about the move with a somewhat negative view of how this will harm communications between Congress and the Trump administration He s clueless!After thanking Sean Spicer, Scaramucci made his first announcement as communications director that Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be the new press secretary:WH Communications Dir. Scaramucci: Sean is a true American patriot I love the guy and I wish him well https://t.co/ZKxpKBPkEw NBC News (@NBCNews) July 21, 2017Rush Limbaugh concluded his radio broadcast today by saying he thinks Scaramucci won t work in this position. After listening to the press conference, Limbaugh said it s clear that Scaramucci was appointed to make the press understand and like President Trump. Not gonna happen! | 0 |
by Health Impact News
A North Carolina grandmother writes:
“I never thought in my life that child trafficking would be legal in our own government.”
Yet, her grandson has been forcibly taken from his family and currently lives with strangers, through the Child Protective System. His grandmother, Kimberly Deese, is one of thousands of parents and grandparents who view the actions of Child Protective Services as literally being a form of legalized child trafficking. It has been one year since Health Impact News first reported the heartbreaking story of Malakai, a little boy who was medically kidnapped from his family and has suffered abuse and malnutrition since being in state custody.
Since that time, there has been little change. Several times, the family was told that there would be an investigation into the reports of abuse and photographs showing his dramatic weight loss, but nothing has reportedly materialized. Malakai is still in state custody, and the last window of opportunity to get him back home is rapidly closing.
Kimberly Deese says that a new attorney has assured them that he can get him back home, but they have less than 60 days to come up with attorney’s fees and to get the legal process rolling before the January 6th deadline. ( Contribute to these legal fees here .) His mother Heather has lost her parental rights, and the new attorney plans to file for an appeal. They are still working to get Malakai placed with his grandmother, but CPS in Wake County has fought them at every turn. The family believes that Malakai never should have been taken from his home.
See original story: North Carolina Child Medically Kidnapped Starving to Death in Foster Care
In September, Malakai’s godmother ran into him with the foster family in a clothing store. The friend was shocked to see how skinny Malakai has become. She was able to get a picture, but the photo quality is very grainy. Malakai in a store in September. Photo source: Help Save Malakai Facebook page .
Kimberly is very fearful for him:
I feel like my grandson’s been forgotten and it hurts bad. My daughter did nothing wrong but loved her children.
Why does CPS have to put a price tag on children’s heads? I never thought in my life that child trafficking would be legal in our own government.
I don’t have much hope anymore and my pain is ongoing since the day they took him.
We are just another family that’s lost in this corrupted government kidnapping our children.
This pain will live in me till the day the good Lord takes me.
I still have Tony, my Heather’s youngest, because I fear in my heart should I give him back to his innocent mother they would take him too. Blessings.
They are very hopeful that the new attorney will help them to set things right. The family says that they have done everything in their power to get him out of foster care, “where he is being malnourished and neglected.”
However, as most families dealing with the system have reported to Health Impact News , the fight has been “mentally and financially draining.” Kimberly writes:
We NEED your help! Wake County CPS refuses to let him come home due to the large amounts of federal funding they receive on his behalf!
For over 2 years Wake County CPS has denied Malakai his mother, whose rights have been terminated, his grandmother, who has custody of his 2 siblings and has been approved as a suitable home for his 2 siblings with no criminal history and other family members who have tried to gain kinship or custody of him to keep him with biological family.
Family SHOULD always be first choice!
Before Malakai was taken from his family, he was a happy and healthy little boy with a ready smile and chubby cheeks. Malakai was happy and healthy before CPS. Photo source: Help Save Malakai Facebook page .
He and his brother were taken from his family in April of 2014 after his younger brother Zechariah sustained a small burn on his leg. Their grandmother later figured out that the burn must have come from a hot buckle on a wagon, after she was able to match his injury to the buckle.
Heather’s boyfriend had placed him in the wagon. He misinterpreted Zechariah’s cries as fear, and pulled him around on the wagon for a couple of minutes in the hope that he would settle down before taking him out of the wagon. It was an accidental injury, and the boys’ mother was not even involved.
Someone who reportedly didn’t like Heather called CPS and told them that she had purposefully caused the burn. Social workers placed Zechariah with his other grandmother, but placed Malakai in a foster home with strangers.
Since he went into foster care, his condition allegedly has rapidly deteriorated. By November of 2014, the once-healthy boy was considered special needs. His grandmother reports that he showed evidence of being:
starved, neglected and abused … and eventually needed leg braces to help him walk. His ribs and shoulder blades began to protrude from his small frail body so now Wake County can claim Special Care funding while holding him hostage from us. Kimberly Deese: “I could see all my grandson’s bones, it was so horrible, reminded me of a child from a third world nation. I just wanted to cry. This is America – this thing should NOT BE HAPPENING.” Source: Help Save Malakai Facebook page . Malakai Suffering in Foster Care
The family has not had any visitation with Malakai since that November. Though there have been many phone calls and reports made to CPS by the family, nothing has been done. Kimberly reports that she has been told that social workers have investigated but have not found any of the allegations to be substantiated. She does not believe that the authorities are listening or that they care about her grandson.
In July of 2016, the family learned that Malakai had been hit by a car while in foster care. Though he was allegedly hospitalized for cuts, scrapes, and bruises, his family was not permitted to see him. Even after the car accident, nothing has changed. The family has learned that he remains in foster care, in the same foster home he was in when he was hit by a car. All phone calls from concerned friends and family have reportedly been ignored. How You Can Help
The family has very limited finances and no means to hire the attorney who believes that he can help them to bring Malakai home. Former court-appointed attorneys have not been helpful in getting Malakai returned to his family.
They need support and prayer as well as financial assistance to raise the retainer fee. They have less than 60 days to come up with the retainer fee for the private attorney. Kimberly Deese believes that this is their last, best hope to get Malakai home and out of the risks that he is facing in foster care.
Health Impact News has set up a special fund to help families in our stories who need financial help. Donations may be made to Malakai’s legal defense fund through this page: | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a conservative health policy expert with deep ties to the pharmaceutical industry, to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the White House said on Friday. If confirmed by the Senate, Gottlieb would be in charge of implementing Trump’s plan to dramatically cut regulations governing food, drugs, cosmetics, dietary supplements and tobacco. Gottlieb is well known on Capitol Hill, where he has testified multiple times on hot-button health issues, including complex drug pricing matters, and is viewed favorably by drug companies and pharmaceutical investors. He sits on the boards of several small drug and biotech companies and is an adviser to GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L). “Thank God it’s Gottlieb,” Brian Skorney, an investment analyst at Robert W. Baird, wrote in a research note. “We view this as a favorable development for the sector.” Gottlieb was chosen over Jim O’Neill, a libertarian investor close to Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founder who now advises Trump on technology and science matters. O’Neill’s stated view that drugs should be approved before being proven effective generated widespread alarm. Gottlieb, 44, is a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank and a partner at a large venture capital fund. He is a former FDA deputy commissioner who has advocated a loosening of requirements needed for approval of new medical products. “Scott knows how the agency works and he will move it forwards, though maybe not always in ways the agency is comfortable with,” said John Taylor, a lawyer and president of compliance and regulatory affairs with the consulting firm Greenleaf Health and a former acting FDA deputy commissioner. In addition to his public health and health policy roles, Gottlieb has for the past decade been a partner at New Enterprise Associates, a large venture fund with investments in the life sciences, medical technology and healthcare services. Critics of the nomination say Gottlieb’s financial background present an array of potential conflicts of interest. Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, said Gottlieb “has spent most of his career dedicated to promoting the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry.” If confirmed, he added, “he will have to be recused from key decisions time and time again.” Stephen Ubl, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said it “looks forward to working with Dr. Gottlieb in his new role and engaging with him and the Agency as they seek to modernize the drug discovery and review process.” Gottlieb, who declined to comment on the nomination, is unlikely to up-end the FDA in the way O’Neill might have, but he is nonetheless expected to bring significant change, including moving the agency to increase flexibility in the clinical trial development process. In this he will be supported by the recently passed 21st Century Cures Act which instructs the FDA among other things to consider the use of “real world evidence” to support new drug applications. This could include anecdotal data, observational studies and patient reports “People don’t want to take chances with safety, but there’s increasingly some clamor to be more flexible on the efficacy side,” said Kathleen Sanzo, who leads the FDA practice at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. “You need to have some signal of efficacy. The question is, how much?” The FDA has attempted to push back against moves to sideline randomized clinical trials, long considered the gold standard. In January it issued a report documenting 22 cases in which drugs that appeared to show promise in early trials turned out to be either ineffective or unsafe or both in larger trials. One of Gottlieb’s priorities will likely be to streamline the process for approving generic versions of complex, difficult-to-copy therapeutics. He has stated publicly that he does not believe the FDA has good tools or policies to move such products and has advocated the creation of different approval standards. “He’s a thoughtful and nuanced kind of guy, and not solely an industry shill,” said Jim Shehan, head of Lowenstein Sandler’s FDA regulatory practice. A survey conducted by Mizuho Securities USA Inc of 53 pharmaceutical executives found that 72 percent favored Gottlieb over other potential candidates. Many described him as knowledgeable, experienced and balanced. “Gottlieb is someone who the industry and investors view as an incremental positive,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee. “The industry and investors need rational scientific logic and an understanding of risks and benefits.” Patient advocates welcomed the news. Gottlieb “has firsthand experience at the FDA and as a physician that has treated patients understands the breadth of work that needs to be achieved on their behalf,” said Ellen Sigal, founder of Friends of Cancer Research. | 0 |
Trump talked about a country on the brink of disaster. He talked about a country he loves, and how he welcomes EVERY American who loves their country to help him save it. Trump s speech started out:Friends, delegates and fellow Americans: I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.Together, we will lead our party back to the White House, and we will lead our country back to safety, prosperity, and peace. We will be a country of generosity and warmth. But we will also be a country of law and order.Our Convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation. The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of violence in our streets and the chaos in our communities. Many have witnessed this violence personally, some have even been its victims.I have a message for all of you: the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on January 20th 2017, safety will be restored.It is finally time for a straightforward assessment of the state of our nation. For entire text of Trump s speech: Politico I am YOUR voice! Trump touched on the LGBT community and wanted them to know he was on their team. He also addressed veterans, women, unemployed and under-represented minorities, refugees who have no place in America if they chose not to assimilate and middle class working Americans.Trump also did a brilliant job of laying out a timeline of Hillary s crimes and how he planned to stop corruption at the highest level of government. He was all about unity and working to make America ONE again. His speech was brilliant, passionate and powerful.Keep your eye the polls over the next couple of days | 0 |
21st Century Wire says There is an amazing scene unfolding in America While the Democratic Party s community organizing machine helps ignite street protests, and even some violence, on streets nationwide the Democratic President goes in front of the press this morning saying, Look, the people have spoken. Donald Trump will be the next president. After a week of concentrated unrest, the President has been totally silent about street protests rejecting the election result almost as a wink and a knod, quietly encouraging, or perhaps tempting a boiling point. When will President directly engage the American people on this issue?Certainly, if this situation were reversed, the media would be demanding that a Republican president go to the American people calling for calm and to accept the American media s newly invented term, the peaceful transition of power. More leading from behind in Washington Gregory Korte USA TodayPresident Obama is answering questions about the election, the presidential transition and his legacy Monday at a White House news conference his first since voters handed the White House over to a candidate who promised to dismantle his agenda.Appearing relaxed and reflective, Obama said Americans had to reconcile themselves to the Trump presidency, but that he was optimistic about the country and his Democratic party.He also made clear that he has things he wants to accomplish before he leaves office. We re going to make sure that we finish what we started, that we don t let up in these last two months, he said.Obama said his White House team should be proud of what they ve accomplished. We ve already ensured that when we turn over the keys, the car is in pretty good shape. We are indisputably in a better position now than we were when I came in eight years ago. ( ) At the Monday news conference, Obama addressed: The outcome of the election: Look, the people have spoken. Donald Trump will be the next president, the 45th president of the United States. Those who didn t vote for him have to understand, that s how the system works. That s how democracy operates, he said. Whenever you have an incoming president on the other side, particularly after a contentious election like we ve had, it takes a while for people to reconcile themselves to that new reality. Hopefully it s a reminder that elections matter. His Oval Office meeting with Trump: Probably the most important point that I made was that how you staff, particularly the chief of staff, the national security adviser, the White House counsel that s something that has to be attended to right away, he said. I think it s important to give him the room and the space to do that. Obama said he told Trump he was encouraged by his more conciliatory tone since the election. Gestures matter, and how he reaches out to groups that may not have supported him those are the kinds of things that can set the tone to move forward once he takes office. The future of the Democratic party: It s a healthy thing for the Democratic party to go through some reflection. I think it s important for me not to be bigfooting that conversation. We want to see new voices and new views emerge, he said Continue this story at USA TodayREAD MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1 |
Hillary would like American voters to believe the alt-right media (new nickname for media who s not afraid to out her and the Clinton Crime family) is out to get her and they would be correct. Hillary and Bill have been given a pass by the mainstream media for decades. Thanks to alternative media sources, Hillary is no longer able to behave like the queen of the Clinton Crime Syndicate and get away with it. Hillary should be afraid of the alt-right boogeyman they can t be bought and won t be frightened by the Clinton Crime family. And best of all, they re not going away until every American knows the truth about #CrookedHillary #HillarysBoogeyMen #Trump #Breitbart @RealAlexJones #pepe #pickle #Brexit #Putin #Harambe https://t.co/Oj98iIxEAZ pic.twitter.com/L2pQjUmdef BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) August 29, 2016Here s Hillary interrupting her seizures, coughing fits and 3-day naps to call out the Alt-right : | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of elder Republican statesmen, including three former Cabinet members, said they will meet with White House officials on Wednesday to propose a $40 per ton tax on carbon emissions to fend off global climate change. The proposal echoes past attempts by parts of the Republican Party to address climate change but could be a non-starter. Republican President Donald Trump has cast doubt on the existence of climate change and vowed during his campaign for the presidency to pull the United States out of a global pact to fight it. “Mounting evidence of climate change is growing too strong to ignore,” the group said in an opinion piece published by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal late on Tuesday. “Now that the Republican Party controls the White House, both chambers of Congress and a majority of state legislatures, it has the opportunity and responsibility to promote a climate plan that showcases the full power of enduring conservative convictions,” they said. An overwhelming majority of scientists believe that burning fossil fuels is driving global climate change, triggering sea level rise and more frequent powerful storms. The carbon tax proposal was co-authored by James Baker, secretary of state during the administration of George H. W. Bush; Henry Paulson, Treasury secretary under George W. Bush; George Shultz, secretary of state under Ronald Reagan; and several others. The group said in a press release they would meet with “senior White House officials in two separate meetings” on Wednesday to present their proposal. Their plan calls for a $40 per ton carbon tax that rises over time, in which all of the revenues are returned to Americans in the form of quarterly dividends administered by the Social Security Administration. The plan would also call for “significant regulatory rollback” of former Democratic President Barack Obama’s climate initiatives, including the repeal of his Clean Power Plan aimed at curbing carbon output from states. A White House official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The full plan is at www.clcouncil.org/ | 0 |
The presumptive Republican nominee is reintroducing Americans to a panoply of dormant scandals, personal transgressions and partisan controversies that rocked Bill Clinton's White House and first lady Hillary Clinton in two turbulent presidential terms leading up to the end of the 20th Century.
The goal is to link them with a flurry of more recent dramas such as those over Clinton's private email server and Benghazi, to depict her potential presidency as a return to unsavory days of rumor, innuendo and alleged malfeasance that would exhaust and disgust voters -- in effect, making the 2016 election a referendum on the Clintons, and the baggage that has always haunted their successful and resilient political careers.
Case in point: a new Instagram video that pictures Bill Clinton chomping on a cigar and revives claims of wrongdoing against him by several women, which ends with the sound of Hillary Clinton laughing and a slogan: "Here we go again?"
The billionaire also appears to be taking aim at the already upside-down approval ratings of Hillary Clinton to neutralize rock-bottom perceptions of his own character revealed by polls that threaten his general election appeal, especially with women voters, the majority of whom prefer his likely Democratic rival.
"What he is doing is he is exposing, not just Bill Clinton for what he was and what he had done, but it's the same as it relates to Hillary," Michael Cohen, Trump's legal counsel, said on CNN's "New Day."
"She attacked Mr. Trump as being a sexist, misogynist, and he is not any of those things," Cohen said, portraying Hillary Clinton as an "enabler" of her husband's dalliances.
But Trump's personal broadsides against the Clintons are not risk-free. The New York billionaire real estate investor has had a colorful personal life himself, and has been accused by the former secretary of state's allies and in news reports of sexist behavior and a string of unflattering comments about women.
Still, the strategy, from Trump's point of view, has the virtue of forcing Clinton into the painful personal position of recalling her husband's past wrongdoing when she would much prefer to focus on other issues.
She answered with a terse "No" when asked by CNN's Chris Cuomo last week whether she ever felt compelled to defend her or her husband's honor against Trump.
"I know that that's exactly what he is fishing for, and you know, I'm not going to be responding."
Her campaign has dusted off the classic Clinton scandal playbook -- pivoting to focus on Trump's own vulnerabilities and stressing that the American people have more pressing concerns.
"The reason he is doing it, is his own record his coming under scrutiny," said Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon on "New Day" Monday , as the Clinton camp lit into Trump over past comments that he hoped the real estate market would crash as it would benefit his businesses.
Trump's attacks, aimed at fixing the picture of "Crooked Hillary" in the public mind as the general election gears up, recall earlier political branding hit jobs that he pulled against "low energy" Jeb Bush and "little" Marco Rubio in the GOP race.
He also is showing he is ready to fight fire with a flamethrower. It is significant for instance that his first veiled reference to 1990s sexual allegations against Bill Clinton came after he concluded that the Clinton campaign was playing the "women card" was against him.
Trump's attacks recall a tortured political era in which the Clinton White House seemed to stagger from scandal to scandal -- but repeatedly defied predictions of its demise to survive and prosper.
As soon as the new First Couple arrived in Washington from Arkansas, they were beset by rumors of wrongdoing and mini ethics scandals. There was Whitewater, about the First Lady's real estate dealings in Arkansas. Travelgate, about firings of officials in the White House travel office, and Filegate about the alleged misuse of FBI papers.
Early on, the Clinton White House was rocked by the suicide of legal counsel Vince Foster, a close friend of Hillary Clinton, which became the cue for another round of conspiracy theories.
It all culminated in an independent counsel investigation by Ken Starr, which in turn led to the moment when Clinton became only the second President to be impeached by the House of Representatives, in 1998, for lying under oath about an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. He was subsequently acquitted in a trial before the U.S. Senate in February 1999. None of the other 'scandals' produced criminal charges against the Clintons and the Whitewater investigation was eventually wrapped up in 2002.
All of that seemed like ancient history. Bill Clinton Clinton left office with a 66% approval rating, according to CNN/Gallup/USA Today polling, and threw himself into an energetic and philanthropic post presidency and built a personal fortune on the lucrative speech making circuit. Hillary Clinton pursued her own political career in the Senate, as secretary of state and her second presidential campaign.
Even Starr has praised Clinton's redemptive post presidency and in remarks reported by the New York Times on Tuesday bemoaned the "tragic dimensions" of the Clinton scandals and investigations of which he was a part.
But Trump is not interested in putting the past to rest. He's dredging it up.
"It's the one thing with her, whether it's Whitewater or whether it's Vince or whether it's Benghazi. It's always a mess with Hillary," Trump said in the Post interview.
The most pressing question raised by Trump's personal assault using the ugliest moments of the Clinton presidency is whether it will work.
Tana Goertz, a senior Trump adviser, told CNN's Pamela Brown on Tuesday that there were no fears in the billionaire's camp that raising Bill Clinton's conduct would boost his wife's approval ratings, just as they did back in the 1990s.
"Back then, people felt sorry for Hillary because her husband was unfaithful. They believed she was going to do the right thing for women and empower women, strengthen women and support women and none of that happened," Goertz said. "That might have been a sympathy vote back then, but that will not happen again."
Throughout their turbulent political careers, the Clintons have shown an ability to court public support by portraying attacks against them as vicious partisan witch hunts and displayed an almost supernatural capacity to weather political crises.
The period of personal anguish, self-reflection and humiliation that Hillary Clinton endured as she questioned whether to save her marriage after the Lewinsky saga meanwhile confounded her enemies as it stirred public empathy for her plight. But she also sparked a public debate over why she had chosen to stay with her husband amid claims by some critics that the marriage was simply a vehicle for her political ambition.
But Hillary Clinton supporter Maria Cardona dismissed the idea that the ghosts of the 1990s will stalk her campaign a two decades later.
"The Bill Clinton issue is already baked in. People know him," Cardona said on CNN.
"An attack on her because of what her husband did is going to backfire in an incredibly big way -- she is going to continue to be focused on issues." | 0 |
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Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine spent his Thursday evening with Late Show host Stephen Colbert, and of course eventually the conversation turned to the absolutely destructive force that is the Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump. The first element of Trump s many outrageous statements to be discussed was his absurd description of Trump calling Kaine s running mate Hillary Clinton a bigot. Kaine reminded the audience the difference between the two candidates records regarding America s race troubles: When Hillary Clinton got out of law school, she was working to help advance racial justice in the juvenile justice system in South Carolina and fight school segregation in Alabama, and I about that time got out of law school and was battling housing discrimination in the South and in Virginia. At his early career, Donald Trump was a real estate guy who got sued by the Justice Department for discriminating against people in housing (by) writing the letter C on applications if they were minority, Kaine continued. Hillary Clinton has got a track record all the way back to being a middle schooler in a Methodist youth group of trying to advance priorities for others and Donald Trump s for himself. Kaine is right, of course. The contrast couldn t be more stark, and history speaks for itself. If anyone is the bigot in this scenario, it s Donald Trump, not Hillary Clinton.Briefly, Stephen Colbert turned to his and Kaine s shared faith, and asked Kaine to recite a New Testament verse he is fond of. Kaine responded with Philippians 2:3: Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind consider one another as more important than yourself. Colbert then cited his own favorite verse in Latin. A backstage interview yielded more criticism of Trump from Kaine, when he said: This is fundamentally about the nation s promise of equality. If we are supposed to do a U-turn or not, so you got to take that seriously, and I m really glad she just reminded everybody that is what is at stake in November. Kaine says that if he ever gets to confront Trump, he d ask one simple question: How can you say the things you re saying? Kaine then continued his final blistering blow: He is going around saying that the American military is a disaster, ridicules a Gold Star family, makes fun of John McCain because he was a POW that kind of personality shouldn t be within 10 time zones of being commander-in-chief. So right, Senator Kaine, so right. Hopefully, people listen to you.Watch a clip below, via Raw Story:Featured image via video screen capture | 0 |
Dan Pfeiffer, who left his position as senior adviser at the White House last week after having worked with Barack Obama since his first presidential campaign, has been involved from the outset in navigating the central contradiction at the heart of Obama’s public persona: He ran as a figure who could overcome partisan polarization, yet he has instead presided over more of it despite accomplishing the majority of the substantive agenda he promised.
Obama and his spokespeople have spent most of their administration quietly at war with the conventional wisdom in Washington over the cause of this failure, and Pfeiffer has spent much of his time in the administration dealing with, or scolding, members of the media, mostly in off-the-record conversations. But in an interview last week, a few days before he resigned, he explained in unusually candid terms the administration’s thinking—and how the White House lost its illusions.
“I think [Obama] believes, and I certainly believe, that while we can always do better, this is a case where structural forces are the large actor here,” he told me. Pfeiffer cited three of them. The first is rising polarization—“the great sorting,” as he called it—which, over a period of decades, has driven white conservatives out of the Democratic Party and moderates out of the Republican Party, creating two ideologically homogeneous political organizations. The second is the disintegration of restrictions on campaign finance, which “gives people even more incentive to play to the far right or to a set of special-interests donors, so that one individual can basically, especially in these House races, do a $1 million expenditure and completely tip the balance.” And, finally, the news media has changed so that people select only sources that will confirm their preexisting beliefs.
All of this combined makes communication with Republicans mostly hopeless. “There’s very little we can do to change the Republicans’ political situation because they are worried about a cohort of voters who disagree with most of what the president says,” Pfeiffer said. “We don’t have the ability to communicate with them—we can’t even break into the tight communication circles to convince them that climate change is real. They are talking to people who agree with them, they are listening to news outlets that reinforce that point of view, and the president is probably the person with the least ability to break into that because of the partisan bias there.”
Pfeiffer’s reading of the red-blue impasse isn’t that it’s a permanent catastrophe. Demographic change will eventually force Republicans to compete with Democrats for some of the same voters, reopening a national political conversation that is accessible to both parties. And Democrats will find the millennial generation in play. “We’re going to have to work harder to get them registered to vote and involved, and that offers an opportunity, because while they are very progressive in some of their general leanings, they’re less tied to institutions and parties.” But that will have to happen after this administration has left the scene.
The original premise of Obama’s first presidential campaign was that he could reason with Republicans—or else, by staking out obviously reasonable stances, force them to moderate or be exposed as extreme and unyielding. It took years for the White House to conclude that this was false, and that, in Pfeiffer’s words, “what drives 90 percent of stuff is not the small tactical decisions or the personal relationships but the big, macro political incentives.”
If you had to pinpoint the moment this worldview began to crystallize, it would probably be around the first debt-ceiling showdown, in 2011, when Obama tried repeatedly and desperately to cut a budget deal with House Speaker John Boehner only to realize, eventually, that Boehner did not have the power to negotiate. The administration has now decided that in many cases, even adversarial bargaining fails because the Republican leadership is not capable of planning tactically. “You have to be careful not to presume a lot of strategy for this group,” Pfeiffer said. “I’ve always believed that the fundamental, driving strategic ethos of the Republican House leadership has been, What do we do to get through the next caucus or conference without getting yelled at? We should never assume they have a long game. We used to spend a lot of time thinking that maybe Boehner is saying this to get himself some more room. And it’s like, no, that’s not actually the case. Usually he’s just saying it because he just said it or it’s the easiest thing to solve his immediate problem.”
This analysis puts the administration at odds with the reading of American politics that still dominates much of Washington reporting. Many political journalists imagine that the basic tension for the White House lies between Obama’s liberal base and appealing to Americans at the center, who will be crucial for tipping elections.
Pfeiffer believes the dynamic is, in fact, the opposite: “The incentive structure moves from going after the diminishing middle to motivating the base.” Ever since Republicans took control of the House four years ago, attempts to court Republicans have mostly failed while simultaneously dividing Democratic voters. Obama’s most politically successful maneuvers, by contrast, have all been unilateral and liberal. “Whenever we contemplate bold progressive action,” Pfeiffer said, “whether that’s the president’s endorsement of marriage equality, or coming out strong on power-plant rules to reduce current pollution, on immigration, on net neutrality, you get a lot of hemming and hawing in advance about what this is going to mean: Is this going to alienate people? Is this going to hurt the president’s approval ratings? What will this mean in red states?” And yet this hesitation has always proved overblown: “There’s never been a time when we’ve taken progressive action and regretted it.”
This was deeply at odds with the lesson Bill Clinton and most of his aides (many of whom staffed Obama’s administration) had taken away from his presidency. But by the beginning of Obama’s second term, at least, the president seemed fully convinced. “As we were preparing for the potential that we would lose the midterms,” Pfeiffer told me, “a lot of the advice we got around town was, You have to show major contrition; heads have to roll; you have to give some sop to the Republicans. The president’s view was, No, we’re not going to do that. We’re going to go out and we’re going to be the opposite of contrite; we’re going to be aggressive in our policies and our politics. And that worked. It caused people to cheer. But that’s the exact opposite of the sort of advice you’d get in this town.”
Though the administration has wound up embracing a very different political strategy from the one it began with, one thing has remained consistent: Obama’s disdain for conventional wisdom. In his introduction to America as the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he criticized the pundits who “like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states.” Now the pundits insist that Obama would bridge the partisan divide if only he spent more time golfing with John Boehner. Those whom Obama once dismissed as cynical he now dismisses as naïve.
Which isn’t to say that he sees his presidency as triumphant. I asked Pfeiffer about how his boss’s view of politics has changed. “He had hopes of being able to change the polarization, not just in the country, but in Washington,” Pfeiffer told me. “We learned very quickly that that was a lot harder than we thought. He will always say that his one biggest regret is that he’s been unable to deliver on that promise.”
*This article appears in the March 9, 2015 issue of New York Magazine. | 0 |
"To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the 'basket of deplorables,'" Hillary Clinton said at a New York fundraiser on Sept. 9. "The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that, and he has lifted them up." (Video: The Washington Post / Photo: AP)
Hillary Clinton's declaration Friday night at a New York fundraiser that "half" of Donald Trump's supporters fit into a "basket of deplorables" seems, in its tersest formation, like a stupid comment to make. The New York Times's Michael Barbaro sums up that sentiment.
But my summary above is not a fair condensation what Clinton said — and the fuller context makes it clear what she was aiming at.
"To just be grossly generalistic," Clinton said according to a transcript from BuzzFeed's Ruby Cramer, "you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up."
She talked a bit about how Trump has interacted with that racist element and then continued. "But the other basket — and I know this because I see friends from all over America here … but that other basket are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures — they're just desperate for change. … Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."
Trump's campaign — and Trump himself — quickly tried to make hay from the first part.
But there are two ways in which this differs from something like President Obama's "cling to guns and religion" comments from another fundraiser in 2008.
The first is that the "clingers" remark disparaged something that was positive: a person's religion or their cultural affinity for gun ownership and sportsmanship. It was a dismissal of things of which people were proud. Clinton, however, was saying that half of Trump's base was motivated by negative inclinations: racism, sexism. No one is going to say, "Hey, how dare you disparage my family's history of being racist."
Trump's tweet said she insulted his supporters, but Clinton clearly delineated between two groups of supporters, and she offered words of understanding to the latter. So let's break the electorate out into four groups and consider how the comment will play.
1. Clinton supporters. They support Clinton; it seems unlikely they'll be put out.
2. Racist/sexist/xenophobic/Islamophobic Trump supporters. How big a group is this? It's hard to say. Clinton's spokesman Nick Merrill tried to defend his boss's use of "half" by saying on Twitter that the racist/xenophobic types "appear to make up half of his crowd" at events. (Update: Clinton issued a statement on Saturday apologizing for implying it was "half" of Trump supporters.) We do know that 7 percent of Trump supporters think the candidate is racist, suggesting that they themselves don't see racism as a dealbreaker. Regardless of the actual fraction of the Trump base this group constitutes, Clinton's not likely to change their minds away from their preferred candidate, either.
3. Non-'deplorable' Trump supporters. This group will go one of two ways. They'll either a. see Clinton's remarks as insulting them as a whole, or b. be reminded that there are elements of Trump's base of support that makes them uncomfortable. That sense may spur them to be less enthusiastic to go vote for Trump in November.
But notice: Either way, there's no loss for Clinton! If she spurs some Trump supporters to reconsider, the loss is to Trump.
[Republicans think Hillary Clinton just made her own ’47 percent’ gaffe. Did she?]
4. Undecided voters. They'll go one of two ways, too, it seems. Some may think Clinton was being rude and be less likely to support her. Some may similarly be reminded about elements of Trump's base that they don't like and be less likely to back him.
This is a much smaller group than the number of Trump backers, mind you. In the current RealClearPolitics average, Trump backers are about 43 percent of the electorate and undecided voters are about 12 percent. If Clinton sways 5 percent of the (let's say) 90 percent of Trump backers who aren't "deplorables" to rethink their support, that's 2 percent of the overall electorate. If she loses 10 percent of the undecideds, that's 1.2 percent of the electorate.
That's assuming the shorthand here doesn't collapse into "Clinton insulted all Trump supporters." This is the point that Barbaro was making. Clinton may have been trying, once again, to separate out non-racist/sexist/xenophobic Trump backers by pointing to those supporting Trump who do hold those objectively deplorable views. It's a tricky line to walk — but compared with "clingers," for example, she's in a slightly better position.
And then there's that other thing about Obama's "clingers" comment: He won anyway — twice. | 0 |
Jeb Bush just unofficially placed himself on team Democrat Potential GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush is calling on Congress to confirm attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch, whose confirmation hearings took place in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. In February, Lynch was voted out of the committee and approved 12-8. Due to the legislative schedule and fighting over bills already in motion, a full Senate vote on her confirmation has not yet taken place. More from POLITICO: I think presidents have the right to pick their team, Bush said, according to reports of his stop at the Politics and Pie forum in Concord, New Hampshire, on Thursday night.A Senate fight over a sex-trafficking bill that includes a controversial abortion provision has held up Lynch s nomination for 160 days since Obama announced his choice last Nov. 8, but Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is threatening to break protocol and force a vote on the Senate floor. If someone is supportive of the president s policies, whether you agree with them or not, there should be some deference to the executive, Bush told reporters. It should not always be partisan. The attorney general isn t supposed to be supportive of the president s policies. The attorney general is supposed to advise the president on constitutional matters and is responsible for ensuring the balance between the executive and legislative branches in maintained.During her confirmation hearings, Lynch expressed support for President Obama s executive amnesty and argued that anybody who is inside the United States, regardless of how they got here or what their legal status is, has a right to work. I think the right and obligation to work is one that is shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here and certainly if someone is here, regardless of status, I would prefer that they be participating in the work place than not be participating, Lynch said.https://youtu.be/FbjsvEjXLgoSorry Loretta, but we beg to differ: Via: Townhall | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has approved giving the U.S. military greater ability to accompany and enable Afghan forces battling a resilient Taliban insurgency, in a move to assist them more proactively on the battlefield, a U.S. official told Reuters. The senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the decision would also allow greater use of U.S. air power, particularly close air support. However, the official cautioned: “This is not a blanket order to target the Taliban.” Obama’s decision again redefines America’s support role in Afghanistan’s grinding conflict, more than a year after international forces wrapped up their combat mission and shifted the burden to Afghan troops. It also comes ahead of Obama’s eagerly anticipated decision on whether to forge ahead with a scheduled reduction in the numbers of U.S. troops from about 9,800 currently to 5,500 by the start of 2017. A group of retired generals and senior diplomats urged Obama last week to forgo those plans, warning they could undermine the fight against the Afghan Taliban, whose leader was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan last month. Under the new policy, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, will be able to decide when it is appropriate for American troops to accompany conventional Afghan forces into the field - something they have so far only been doing with Afghan special forces, the official said. The expanded powers are only meant to be employed “in those select instances in which their engagement can enable strategic effects on the battlefield,” the official said. That means that U.S. forces should not be expected to accompany Afghan soldiers on day-to-day missions. “This added flexibility ... is fully supported by the Afghan government and will help the Afghans at an important moment for the country,” the official said. The decision is a departure from current U.S. rules of engagement in Afghanistan, which impose limits on U.S. forces’ ability to strike at insurgents. For example, the U.S. military was previously allowed to take action against the Taliban “in extremis” - moments when their assistance was needed to prevent a significant Afghan military setback. That definition, however, left the U.S. military postured to assist them in more defensive instances. The new policy would allow U.S. forces to accompany Afghans at key moments in their offensive campaign against the Taliban. “The U.S. forces will more proactively support Afghan conventional forces,” the official said. The Taliban control or contest more territory in Afghanistan than at any time since they were ousted by a U.S.-backed intervention in late 2001, and U.S. officials have acknowledged the uneven performance of Afghan security forces. Large portions of Afghanistan, including the provincial capital of northern Kunduz and multiple districts of southern Helmand province, have fallen, at times briefly, to the Taliban over the past year-and-a-half. Many other districts and provinces are also under varying degrees of Taliban control. The new authorities that Obama has given the U.S. military could give it greater leeway in addressing the shortcomings of Afghan security forces. Still, experts warn that its hard to predict when Afghanistan will be able to stand on its own against the Taliban, not to mention the country’s enormous economic difficulties and fractious political system. The U.S government’s top watchdog on Afghanistan told Reuters that the United States had wasted billions of dollars in reconstruction aid to Afghanistan over the past decade, and now a renewed Taliban insurgency was threatening the gains that had been made. | 0 |
Obama Votes Against US at UN October 27, 2016 Daniel Greenfield
Obama's abstention from a UN vote against the US is a new low for the most anti-American administration in American history. Under Obama, our foreign policy has been reoriented toward damaging our own interests as much as possible. But actively opposing US policy at the UN is a new low.
The resolution A/RES/71/5 is on the "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba".
It was introduced at the request of Cuba back in '91 with a memorandum that accused America of "pursuing an aggressive policy against Cuba with the declared aim of imposing on it the political, social and economic order which the united States authorities consider most fitting. This policy has included direct military intervention, the threat of nuclear annihilation, the instigation and carrying out of countless acts of sabotage and plans to assassinate Cuban leaders."
As Obama's creepy toady Ben Rhodes tweeted, "No reason to vote to defend a failed policy we oppose."
Except the failed policy is that of the United States. By "we", Rhodes means that Obama and the left aren't going to defend the United States in international forums when they disagree with the US.
All this is yet another reminder that the people running the country are not of the country. They're a hostile foreign ideology that sees itself as separate from the United States and does not believe it has any responsibilities toward the United States.
At the UN, Samantha Power took the anti-American positions to applause from a UN united with Obama against America.
"For more than 50 years, the United States had a policy aimed at isolating the government of Cuba. For roughly half of those years, UN Member States have voted overwhelmingly for a General Assembly resolution that condemns the U.S. embargo and calls for it to be ended. The United States has always voted against this resolution. Today the United States will abstain. [Applause.] Thank you. "
This is treason. | 1 |
Ever since his devastating, humiliating loss to Ted Cruz in Colorado, Donald Trump has been whining and moaning about the delegate process in a number of states, accusing the system of being crooked. And just when he s been a little more silent on the issue, his supporters have decided to take up for him.On Monday, Ted Cruz was confronted by one of Trump s angry supporters while at a campaign stop in Indiana. Nearly as soon as he stepped off his campaign bus, Trump fan Kathy Hiel approached and accused the Texas senator of playing establishment games and rigging the system, which Cruz denied. The GOPer tried to remain civil in the face of pure idiocy, maintaining that the grassroots operations that were in place in states such as Colorado to win delegates were the exact opposite of the establishment. Cruz also reminded Hiel that Trump was funding the Gang of 8, which Hiel dismissed, claiming that a few thousand isn t funding much of anything. Cruz pointed out that he hadn t given anything.Hiel wasn t having it, and the exchange got heated. As Hiel s attitude escalated, Cruz had to keep his distance and tell her, I ll have a respectful conversation with you. You can watch the confrontation below:WATCH: @tedcruz has heated exchange with Trump supporter over delegate process: https://t.co/1bYiZ9lTn0https://t.co/jkT4BVN71A ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 25, 2016The exchange ended pretty much the way Trump would have ended an argument with Cruz: by Hiel saying that Cruz wasn t a natural-born citizen. Cruz made sure to point out that if the tables had been turned and it was Trump being challenged by a voter about delegates, violence would have have likely ensued.After this confrontation, Hiel was interviewed by ABC News and criticized Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich for recently joining forces to try and defeat Trump. Bashing the two candidates alliance and attempt to save the Republican party, Hiel said: With the collusion of Ted and the Republican Party and John Kasich I feel that they should both men should just step out. They re just doing nothing but trying to hurt the front-runner when they actually don t have a chance of winning. Featured image is a screenshot | 0 |
Things got tense Sunday on 60 Minutes as CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley squared off with prominent Trump supporter Mike Cernovich.As part of a segment on Fake News, Pelley introduced Cernovich as the founder of a website, Danger & Play, which has become a magnet for readers with a taste for stories with no basis in fact. Things only got testier from there.Pelley grilled Cernovich over a story he published titled Hillary Clinton has Parkinson s Disease, Physician Confirms. Kelley pointed out that Cernovich had not actually spoken to any doctor who had examined the democratic Presidential nominee, and that the campaign denied the allegation. MediaiteSpeaking of fake news here s the clip of the 60 Minutes segment CBS s 60 Minutes tweeted.: That story got so much traction, it had to be denied not only by Clinton s doctor, but by the National Parkinson s Foundation. (2/2) pic.twitter.com/SLu19bN6Gr 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 27, 2017The only thing CBS showed that could have been construed as negative news for the left would be the studies that showed the | 1 |
The House Benghazi committee has interviewed two drone sensor operators who were working on the night of the deadly 2012 attacks in Libya, including one who identified himself on talk radio as John from Iowa. The unidentified drone operator has earned derision from the Pentagon and committee Democrats, who say the GOP-led panel has made a series of costly, duplicative and unnecessary requests including some based on claims made on Facebook or talk radio.The drone operator, an Air Force sergeant, told a radio host in 2013 he was surprised that no one from Congress had contacted him.The panel s chairman, Republican congressman Trey Gowdy, says that talking to enlisted service members with first-hand information is just as important as talking to the generals and admirals who command them. The Daily Caller:In a statement announcing the subpoena for Hedger, Gowdy also suggested that the former Democratic congressional aide and others at the Defense Department may have tried to shield the drone operator s identity. This Pentagon political appointee claimed in an official letter to the committee the Department of Defense could not find a requested witness, despite expending significant resources searching for him, Gowdy said. This witness is still on active duty and confirmed Thursday the Air Force knew exactly who he was a drone sensor operator who was operating over Benghazi on the night of the attacks, he added. Mr. Hedger will now have the opportunity to detail exactly what resources he expended and how. I look forward to him explaining the serious questions that have arisen with respect to this matter, including whether they are related to incompetence or deliberate concealment of the witness from a congressional inquiry. Committee Democrats immediately circled the wagons around the Defense Department and Hedger, who has worked for Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and New York Rep. Steve Israel, both ardent supporters of Hillary Clinton. This latest abuse of authority by House Republicans is ridiculous and a desperate distraction from a failed investigation, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat, said in a statement.Read more: Daily CallerVia: WT | 0 |
Obama is a scoundrel he ll say anything to stay in power. He s counting on the American people to believe his total bs story about election fraud when in 2008 he spoke of fraud. It s pretty funny that now he s claiming Trump s remarks are dangerous when he said the same thing in 2008! When you suggest rigging or fraud without a shred of evidence Barack ObamaPlease be a poll challenger this year! We ve done it several times and we feel it s the only way we can combat voter fraud head on. Just contact your local Republican party office. Please consider this!At a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton on Thursday in Miami Gardens, Fla., President Obama condemned Donald Trump s rigged election claims, describing these remarks as dangerous. When you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people s minds about the legitimacy of our election, that undermines our democracy, he said. When you suggest rigging or fraud without a shred of evidence, when last night at the debate, Trump becomes the first major party nominee in American history to suggest that he will not concede despite losing that is not a joking matter, Obama added.Trump said at the third presidential debate that he would keep the United States in suspense as to whether he would accept the election results. Later, at a campaign rally, he promised in a jesting manner that he would accept the results if I win as the crowd roared.But despite condemning Trump for suggesting an election can be rigged, here is a clip of then-candidate Barack Obama in 2008 warning about voter fraud and suggesting Republicans could try to sway the election in their favor. Well, I tell you what it helps in Ohio, that we got Democrats in charge of the machines, Obama said regarding the threat of election-rigging.He continued, Whenever people are in power, they have this tendency to try to tilt things in their direction. That s why we ve got to have, I believe, a voting rights division in the Justice Department that is nonpartisan, and that is serious about investigating cases of voter fraud. That s why we need paper trails on these new electronic machines so that you actually have something that you can hang on to after you ve punched that letter make sure it hasn t been hacked into, he added, admitting that even Democrats have monkeyed around with election results: I want to be honest, it s not as if it s just Republicans who have monkeyed around with elections in the past. Sometimes, Democrats have, too. | 0 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail, but their first debate on Monday night dominated headlines. The ratings alone were newsworthy: 84 million viewers, possibly the most for a debate ever. Mrs. Clinton reveled in largely positive reviews, while Mr. Trump’s main strength was on trade issues. Mr. Trump has raised a host of complaints about the debate, including about his microphone and Lester Holt, the moderator. An unexpectedly powerful issue: his derision of a Latina beauty queen for gaining weight after winning the 1996 Miss Universe pageant. Above, Mrs. Clinton at a rally in North Carolina. _____ 2. Syrian government troops pushed into the ravaged city of Aleppo, backed by the fifth day of aerial bombardments by allied Syrian and Russian forces. Rebel forces disputed the government’s claim of a major advance, but the city suffered possibly the most ferocious assaults in five years of civil war. “Every day is worse than the last,” one desperate resident said. “Every day I leave my house, I keep in mind that I might not be back. ” _____ 3. Shimon Peres, one of the last pillars of Israel’s founding generation, died two weeks after suffering a massive stroke. He was 93. In a statement, former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton said, “He was a genius with a big heart who used his gifts to imagine a future of reconciliation not conflict, economic and social empowerment not anger and frustration, and a nation, a region, and a world enhanced by caring and sharing, not torn asunder by the illusions of permanent dominance and perfect truth. ” 4. “It’s just a funding bill,” the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, groused. He was exasperated after a mix of Democrats and Republicans blocked his effort to advance a temporary spending bill that would head off a government shutdown this weekend. The vote fell 15 votes short of the 60 needed for passage. The issue: Democrats refuse to pass a bill that includes flood relief for Louisiana unless it also includes help for the crisis bedeviling Flint, Mich. _____ 5. The man who has admitted responsibility for the 2013 Bridgegate scandal in New Jersey directly tied Gov. Chris Christie to the events. David Wildstein, who worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said he told Mr. Christie during a Sept. 11 memorial service about organizing the closing of lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge. The point was to snarl traffic in Fort Lee, N. J. as a punishment for the town’s mayor. Mr. Christie, he said, laughed. _____ 6. One of our stories today is about Alton Brown’s eighth cookbook, “EveryDayCook: This Time It’s Personal. ” Or rather, it’s about a glimpse of the person behind the food TV showman: supersmart, politically conservative, divorced, in a midlife crisis. “It’s ‘Who the heck am I?’ time,” he said. “I’ve spent years projecting and presenting this thing, but in the end, what am I? I thought it was important to put something on paper. ” _____ 7. Judges in the Hague sentenced this radical Islamist, Ahmad to nine years in prison for his role in demolishing historic Muslim shrines in Timbuktu, Mali. It was the International Criminal Court’s first prosecution for the destruction of cultural heritage as a war crime. _____ 8. The W. H. O. ’s most comprehensive analysis so far of outdoor air quality worldwide revealed that 92 percent of the world’s people breathe unhealthy air. The report linked about three million deaths a year to outdoor air pollution, mostly from cardiovascular, pulmonary and other disease. The areas are Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region. _____ 9. The tech billionaire Elon Musk laid out the details of his plan to get people to Mars. In fact, to colonize Mars. His plans for his SpaceX company don’t stop there — he spoke of an Interplanetary Transit System capable of ferrying scores of passengers at a time to other planets. “It’s something we can do in our lifetimes,” he said, in a presentation to the International Astronautical Congress. More than 100, 000 people watched the . _____ 10. A bill awaiting President Obama’s signature gives most Olympic and Paralympic medalists a tax break. For those who earn less than $1 million a year, the measure designates the value of their medals and their bonuses — $25, 000 for every gold, $15, 000 for every silver and $10, 000 for every bronze — . The one representative who voted against the bill, Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, said Congress should be dealing with more urgent matters. “We’ve got a Zika crisis, an opium epidemic and gun violence in the news every day,” he said. _____ 11. Finally, Leonard Nimoy died last year, but his Spock lives on and prospers in the minds of many fans. The actor’s son, Adam Nimoy, pictured with him above, discovered one crucial reason in the course of making his documentary “For the Love of Spock. ” The character was not just an outsider and a principal in the bromance he was also a rare multiracial role model on American television. A Los Angeles artist said: “Every time McCoy would say, you’re and Spock would say, I’m also I was like, ‘Yeah, I get that.’ ” _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 0 |
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DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday it had successfully tested a new ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) and would keep developing its arsenal despite U.S. pressure to stop. The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, saying its missile tests violate a U.N. resolution, which calls on Tehran not to undertake activities related to missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no such plans. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter the missile test illustrates the weakness of the Iran nuclear deal reached by his predecessor Barack Obama. He also linked the action to recent aggressive moves by North Korea. Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea, Trump said on Twitter. Not much of an agreement we have! Iran said in its announcement on Saturday that the Khorramshahr missile could carry several warheads. State broadcaster IRIB carried footage of the missile test without giving its time or location. It included video from an on-board camera which it said showed the detachment of the cone that carries multiple warheads. You are seeing images of the successful test of the Khorramshahr ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 km, the latest missile of our country, state television said, adding this was Iran s third missile with such a range. The Khorramshahr was first displayed at a military parade on Friday, where President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would strengthen its missile capabilities. Britain voiced concerns about the latest test. Extremely concerned by reports of Iran missile test, which is inconsistent with UN resolution 2231. Call on Iran to halt provocative acts, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter. France also said it was extremely concerned and called on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to carry out a full report on the launch. France asks that Iran cease all destabilizing activity in the region, Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne said in a statement. (France) will consider with its partners, notably European, the means to obtain from Iran the cessation of its destabilizing ballistic activities. Trump told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that Iran was building its missile capability and accused it of exporting violence to Yemen, Syria and other parts of the Middle East. He also criticized a 2015 pact that the United States and other world powers struck with Iran under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions. Iran s defense minister said on Saturday foreign pressures would not affect Iran s missile program. On the path to improve our country s defensive capacity we will certainly not be the least affected by any threats and we won t ask anyone s permission, Brigadier General Amir Hatami said in remarks carried by state television. Iran denies its missile development breaches the U.N. resolution and says its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons. The weight of the Khorramshahr missile s warhead has been announced to be 1,800 kg (4,000 lbs), ... making it Iran s most powerful missile for defense and retaliation against any aggressive enemy, state television said. | 1 |
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia s King Salman received Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Riyadh on Wednesday and reiterated the kingdom s support for the Palestinian people, state news agency SPA reported. The king reassured the Palestinian leader that Saudi Arabia continues to support the right of Palestinians to an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, SPA said. The two leaders also discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian territories, it said. A dozen Saudi princes and officials also attended the meeting. Saudi Arabia condemned U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said any decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem before a permanent peace settlement is reached would inflame the feelings of Muslims, official media reported. | 1 |
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court freed on bail an opposition journalist facing charges of aiding a terrorist organization after he identified the hotel where President Tayyip Erdogan was staying hours before last year s failed military coup. Gokmen Ulu, one of four staff of the opposition newspaper Sozcu whose trial began on Tuesday, told the court he was accused of a made-up crime and prosecutors had no evidence against him. He had been in detention for more than five months. The court has decided to release on bail our friend Gokmen Ulu, the Sozcu newspaper said on its website, saying he was expected to be freed from Silivri Prison, west of Istanbul, later on Wednesday. Ulu was charged along with video journalist Mediha Olgun, who was held for several months before her release on bail in September, and accountant Yonca Yucekaleli, both of whom deny the accusations against them. Sozcu founder Burak Akbay, who has left the country and is being tried in absentia, is accused of being a leader of a terrorist organization. On the night of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, Erdogan narrowly escaped a team of rogue soldiers who stormed his hotel in a luxury resort in the southwestern Turkish province of Mugla. Forty-two soldiers were found guilty last month of trying to kill him and given life sentences. Prosecutors say Ulu s newspaper article made Erdogan a target for the coup plotters by revealing his location. The allegations are against conscience and thought. They are unjust. The crime is made up, Ulu told the court, according to a transcript published by his newspaper. There is no evidence against me. Akbay, in a statement read to the court, denied he was a supporter of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Turkish authorities of orchestrating the abortive coup. Gulen has said he was not involved and has condemned the putsch. More than 50,000 people, including soldiers, teachers and journalists, have been jailed pending trial in a sweeping crackdown following the coup attempt. European allies fear Erdogan is using the investigations to stifle opposition and undermine the judiciary. He has responded by saying that the purges are necessary to maintain stability in a pivotal NATO country bordering Iran, Iraq and Syria. | 0 |
21st Century Wire says Just days before the US inauguration, in his recent interview with the Times of London President-Elect Donald Trump continues to challenge a number of Washington foreign policy sacred cows, particularly neoconservative positions. He signalled a lifting of US sanctions against Russia in the spirit of cooperation in nuclear arms reductions and also to partner with Moscow in the fight radical Islamist Terror. Trump also laid into NATO calling it obsolete , while potentially driving a wedge between traditionally tight US-EU relations as he chastised Brussels, as well as US ally Germany and its leader Angela Merkel over her country s immigration policy. They have sanctions on Russia let s see if we can make some good deals with Russia. For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, said Trump.Regarding a change in sanctions policy, Trump added, Something can happen that a lot of people are going to benefit. His off-handed comments on the EU will certainly upset career Mandarin europhiles in Brussels and Berlin too: You look at the European Union and it s Germany. Basically a vehicle for Germany. That s why I thought the UK was so smart in getting out. 21WIRE s Patrick Henningsen spoke to RT International about the policy signalling in Trump s interview and what it means going forward. How long will his rhetorical rebellion will last and will it translate into policy? Watch:. READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21WIRE Trump FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
Transgender activist and bully, Hanna Zoey Tur threatened conservative reporter Ben Shapiro when he refused to call Bruce Caitlyn Jenner a woman. After Shapiro refused to back down from his statement that Jenner is a man, things became heated with the oh so tolerant Tur:https://youtu.be/pckjiU6iYEU | 0 |
Gold prices grow by $60 as Trump wins, US dollar trashed Republican Donald Trump has won the US presidential election . Hillary Clinton congratulated her rival on the victory and refused to speak to her supporters. As Pravda.Ru has reported before, Trump's victory has greatly affected the state of affairs on world market s. During the last four hours, against the backdrop of the struggle between the presidential candidates, gold has risen in price by 4.5%, or $60. January futures for Brent oil fell by 2.2%. According to The Financial Times, the Mexican peso has fallen to a record low against the US dollar, having lost 13.1%, to 20.69. The Swiss franc has gained 1.9% vs. the US dollar to 0.9577. The Canadian dollar has declined to an eight-month low against the US currency. The Australian dollar has dropped by 1.9 percent to $0.7615. The pound sterling has gained 1.04 percent to $1.2513. The euro has climbed by 2.2 percent to $1.1261. Pravda.Ru Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru WikiLeaks: Trump leads in global US elections | 1 |
The Oklahoma Legislature on Thursday passed a bill that would effectively ban abortions by subjecting doctors who perform them to felony charges and revoking their medical licenses — the first legislation of its kind. In a year in which states have tried to outlaw abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy, to ban the main surgical method used in the second trimester and to shut down abortion clinics with onerous regulations, Oklahoma’s bill is the most . The measure, which passed the Senate by a vote of 33 to 12, will be presented to Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, who will have five days to sign it, veto it or allow it to take effect without her signature. If it becomes law, it is certain to face a quick challenge in state or federal court. And because the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that women have a right to obtain abortions until the fetus is viable outside the womb, legal experts say, it will soon be declared unconstitutional. That has not deterred politicians in a state dominated by conservative Republicans. Some say they welcome the chance to make a strong statement and to engage the issues in court. “Most people know I am for defending rights,” Senator Nathan Dahm, the author of the bill and a software developer from Broken Arrow, Okla. told The Oklahoman. “Those rights begin at conception. ” Mr. Dahm told reporters that he knew the measure would be challenged but expressed hope that the case would lead the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. Ms. Fallin, who has signed several bills that were later blocked by the courts, will not comment on the new bill “until she and her staff have had a chance to review it,” Michael McNutt, her communications director, said in an email. But some legislators called the measure an diversion. “I’m and a Roman Catholic, but I don’t think we should waste our time on legislation that someone will declare unconstitutional,” Senator Ervin Yen, an anesthesiologist from Oklahoma City, and one of a small number of Republicans to oppose the bill, said in an interview. In an open letter on Thursday, the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal group based in New York, urged Ms. Fallin to veto what it said was a “blatantly unconstitutional measure. ” Noting that it has sued Oklahoma eight times in the last six years, blocking lesser restrictions like the state’s effort to ban the surgical method, the center said that “this bill will almost certainly lead to expensive court challenges that the State of Oklahoma simply cannot defend in light of longstanding Supreme Court precedent. ” The bill would strip doctors who perform abortions of their medical licenses unless the procedure was necessary to save a woman’s life. The felony provision does not include that exception. Currently, only two clinics in Oklahoma, one in Norman and one in Tulsa, provide abortions. A third, owned by Trust Women, a foundation based in Wichita, Kan. is under construction and is to open next month. Julie Burkhart, Trust Women’s chief executive, expressed dismay at the bill and urged Ms. Fallin to veto it. Oklahoma’s proposal to criminalize abortion may be the most stringent, but it is one of many new measures that continue in conservative states. This year, South Dakota joined 12 other states in banning abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy, with a similar bill in South Carolina awaiting the signature of Gov. Nikki R. Haley. Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia have passed laws to ban the use of the surgical technique even though courts in Oklahoma and elsewhere have previously overturned such laws. Texas regulations that could force a majority of the state’s abortion clinics to close are the subject of a major Supreme Court case. The rules require that doctors have admitting privileges at local hospitals and that abortion clinics meet the stringent building and staffing standards of ambulatory surgery centers. The decision, expected in June, could have major effects on access to abortion in several other states. But the Supreme Court, while it is debating how far states may go in regulating abortion, has given no sign that it will overturn the basic right of women to obtain the procedure, which is at stake in the new Oklahoma bill. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve inaugurates the Trump era this week with a near-certain interest rate increase and new economic forecasts providing a first glimpse into whether the U.S. election has reshaped the central bank’s growth and inflation outlook. Fed fund futures show a 97 percent probability that the Fed will lift rates by a quarter of a percentage point at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, according to the CME Group. All 120 economists in a Reuters poll expect a rate hike in the wake of a string of solid U.S. economic reports. More telling will be whether the stock market rally and jump in bond yields triggered by Trump’s Nov. 8 victory will push the Fed to an inflection point of its own and a higher projected pace of rate increases for 2017 and beyond. The Republican businessman is inheriting a good economy, one that grew by 3.2 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two years. There are, however, concerns that his plan to reduce taxes, cut regulation and increase infrastructure spending could not just boost the economy but also fuel higher inflation. Since first published in 2012, the Fed’s quarterly “dot plot” of projected interest rates has generally moved in one direction – down – and any post-election change will show whether policymakers expect Trump’s policies to shake things up. As of September, Fed officials’ median projection was for two rate increases next year and a long run “neutral” level of 2.6 percent. A rate increase this week would be the first since last December and only the second since the 2007-2009 financial crisis. “Their path is going to move up faster and a little sooner,” said Steve Rick, chief economist for CUNA Mutual Group. He said the economy was running at its potential, and that was the Fed’s cue to “exit stage right” and steadily move rates to normal. Fed officials have long hoped that other government policies would take the place of monetary engineering, which some believe may have lost its effectiveness in lifting economic growth. They have warned in recent weeks that any new government spending should specifically be designed to boost productivity in an economy that is already near full employment and facing a high public debt burden. The Fed’s new forecasts will indicate if policymakers feel that the monetary-to-fiscal handover is on the horizon, or need more time for the Trump administration’s plans to become more detailed and move through Congress. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) on Wednesday to elaborate on the economic outlook and policy statement. She’ll have a broad set of issues to cover since her last press conference in September - from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting itself, to the likelihood she will be replaced in early 2018 and the risks she foresees from the Trump agenda. Trump repeatedly attacked Yellen during the election campaign, accusing her of holding down rates to help his Democratic rival. Since the election, he has expressed his disapproval of corporate America, criticizing Boeing (BA.N), and took credit for a deal to keep hundreds of jobs at an Indiana plant from being moved to Mexico. The president-elect also will be under scrutiny after this week’s Fed meeting for clues about how he plans to handle his relationship with the central bank. “There is a real risk that he could be openly critical of the decision to raise rates next week,” Paul Ashworth, an economist with Capital Economics, said in a note last week. That could upset markets and raise serious issues about whether Trump intends to leave the Fed alone or try to influence its decisions. Top U.S. elected officials, in particular the president, typically avoid criticizing the Fed’s short-term rate decisions, emphasizing instead the need for monetary policy to be set independently. “If he remains silent after the announcement to raise interest rates next Wednesday, then we can begin to assume that it will be business as usual for the Fed,” Ashworth wrote. Trump’s plan to cut taxes and regulation and funnel fresh billions into capital projects must pass Congress, and it may be well after that before any new programs meaningfully effect economic forecasts. But policymakers also watch the markets closely. It may be hard for the Fed to stick with its ultra-slow pace of rate hikes if a major tax overhaul and fiscal spending plan are unleashed. TD Securities analysts said that fiscal policy at this point in the economic recovery could prompt “an inflationary demand shock” that adds nearly a percentage point to economic growth, but spurs the Fed to raise rates much quicker than expected - by nearly an extra percentage point per year. That scenario of a central bank caught behind the curve and forced to act faster is one that Yellen and other policymakers have said they hope to avoid out of fear it could prompt a recession. Fed officials in recent days have acknowledged the Trump agenda may cause them to switch gears, though it is not clear how soon. “At this juncture, it is premature to reach firm conclusions,” New York Fed President William Dudley said last week. But, since Trump won the election, Dudley added, “the stock market has firmed, bond yields have risen and the dollar has appreciated ... Market participants now anticipate that fiscal policy will turn more expansionary and that the (FOMC) will likely respond by tightening monetary policy a bit more quickly than previously anticipated.” For a graphic on The Trump inflection, click: here | 0 |
(Reuters) - President Donald Trump faces his biggest test as a world leader when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping this week for a summit that will set the tone for perhaps the most consequential of U.S. foreign relationships. The two leaders are expected to struggle to find common ground on the main issues that divide them when they meet on Thursday and Friday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The main agenda items are: Perhaps Trump’s most pressing national security challenge. North Korea has been working to develop nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. Trump is expected to repeat his call for China to do more to rein in its ally and neighbor and has warned that Washington might deal with Pyongyang’s weapons programs alone if need be. China says it is doing all it can and has said it is up to the United States to de-escalate with Pyongyang. A White House strategy review focuses on options for pressuring Pyongyang economically and militarily. Among measures under consideration are “secondary sanctions” against Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with Pyongyang. A long-standing option of pre-emptive strikes remains on the table, but the review “de-emphasizes direct military action,” a senior U.S. official said. Any military action would likely provoke severe North Korean retaliation and massive casualties in South Korea and Japan and among U.S. troops stationed there. TRADE Trade is one of the biggest hot-button issues, given Trump’s charges in his presidential campaign that Chinese trade practices were killing U.S. jobs and his vow to impose 45 percent tariffs on Chinese imports. The administration has not acted on unilateral tariffs but is targeting a reduction in China’s $347 billion goods trade surplus through tougher enforcement of trade laws and anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has also demanded “reciprocity” in the U.S.-China economic relationship, saying that U.S. companies do not enjoy the same access to China’s vast market as Chinese firms get in the United States. China says Washington should create better conditions for Chinese investment in the United States if it wants to correct the imbalance. Neither side wants a trade war, but it may be hard to do much more than lower the temperature in Mar-a-Lago. Some analysts believe Xi may bring a package of job-creating Chinese investments and the prospect of a more open services sector that Trump could tweet as tangible achievements. Relations are also clouded by China’s expansive claims in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing has been building artificial islands and installing military facilities on them. U.S. officials see this as part of a long-term Chinese bid to deny U.S. forces access to the strategic sea, a key global trade route. They say Washington plans more robust naval operations to challenge Chinese claims and assert the right to freedom of navigation, though months have passed since the last one in October under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama. The situation in North Korea has appeared to push the South China Sea onto the back burner for now, but Trump is expected to air U.S. concerns. Trump has repeatedly charged that China manipulates its yuan currency to keep its exports cheap, and he is likely to raise the issue with Xi. But Trump did not make good on his promises to formally declare China a currency manipulator on the first day of his presidency. While economists believe China pushed down the value of the yuan in the past, China’s central bank for much of the past two years has been working to prop up the yuan, amid capital outflow pressures, spending more than $1 trillion in the process. This would make it very hard to justify a manipulator designation under the U.S. Treasury’s current foreign exchange analysis, due one week after Xi’s visit. The summit would not be happening if Trump had not reaffirmed the “one China” policy that has underpinned relations for decades. Trump infuriated Beijing when, as president-elect, he took a call from Taiwan’s president and suggested he might not abide by the policy. He backtracked in a call with Xi in February. Xi may now be looking to head off a big new weapons package to Taiwan that U.S. officials have told Reuters is being crafted. For its part, Taiwan will be watching anxiously for any sign that Trump is using it as a bargaining chip. | 0 |
BEIJING (Reuters) - China s naval chief has told his Australian counterpart that his country s actions on the South China Sea run counter to the general trend of peace and stability in the disputed waterway. Australia, a close ally of the United States, has repeatedly expressed concern over the disputed South China Sea, where China has built manmade islands, some of which are equipped with runways, surface-to-air missiles and radars. Australia has previously drawn criticism from China for running surveillance flights over the South China Sea and supporting U.S. freedom of navigation exercises there. However, Australia has not conducted a unilateral freedom of navigation voyage of its own. China claims most of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway where $3 trillion worth of goods passes every year. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei all have overlapping claims. Meeting in Beijing, China s navy commander Shen Jinlong told Australian Vice Admiral Tim Barrett that at present the situation in the South China Sea was steady and good , China s Defence Ministry said in a statement late on Thursday. But in the last year the Australian military s series of actions in the South China Sea have run counter to the general trend of peace and stability, the ministry cited Shen as saying, without pointing to any specific examples. This does not accord with the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries nor the atmosphere of the forward steps in cooperation in all areas between the two countries, Shen added. This also is not beneficial to the overall picture of regional peace and stability. Over the past week or so China and Australia have also traded barbs over Canberra s allegation that Beijing had sought to interfere in Australian politics, with China summoning Australia s ambassador to complain last week. China has continued to install high-frequency radar and other facilities that can be used for military purposes on its man-made islands in the South China Sea, a U.S. think tank said on Thursday. In August, Australia, Japan and the United States urged Southeast Asia and China to ensure that a South China Sea code of conduct they have committed to draw up will be legally binding and said they strongly opposed coercive unilateral actions . | 1 |
On March 6, newly-minted Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Dr. Ben Carson, gave a speech before employees of the organization. During the speech, he made a controversial remark, referring to African slaves as immigrants. Here are a few of the vile tweets celebrities posted for everyone to seen Twitter:Actor, radical leftist and Obama cheerleader Samuel L. Jackson apparently had not yet gotten the memo that Obama said almost the exact same thing only one year ago. There s always the very real possibility that Jackson was just too ignorant to understand what Dr. Carson was saying Here s Jackson s vile tweet:OK!! Ben Carson .I can't! Immigrants ? In the bottom of SLAVE SHIPS??!! MUTHAFUKKA PLEASE!!!#dickheadedtom Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) March 6, 2017There s nothing like a has been rapper calling the most brilliant pediatric neurosurgeon in America a DumbF*ck LOL! Christopher Jackson played George Washington in Hamilton. Being an actor in Hamilton apparently makes him the authority on all things black, including the meaning behind the comments made by Dr. Ben Carson. Our Ancestors didn't have a "CHOICE" you IDIOT!!!! Ben Carson, you are Hopelessly Ignorant. Again, Kids look the other way Please. Christopher Jackson (@ChrisisSingin) March 7, 2017Jackson has this tweet pinned to the top of his Twitter account. Apparently telling other people to love your neighbor makes you somehow a better person. And it also apparently gives you immunity when you act like a bully when you tell others to, Stand up to the bully. Love your Neighbor. Make your cause known to them. Stand up to the bully. Speak for those with no voice. This work is JUST Beginning. Christopher Jackson (@ChrisisSingin) November 9, 2016These people are such utter phonies and have no idea what it means to be tolerant of anyone who hold a view that is in opposition to theirs.On Tuesday, The Washington Free Beacon published a side-by-side video featuring Ben Carson s remarks alongside those made during a 2015 speech by then-President Barack Obama and they were eerily similar:Watch: Daily WireInstead of apologizing for his ignorant remarks, ICE T makes lame attempt at blaming Trump for his hateful and racist remarks:In the past Year or so of Politics.. Twitter and all of Social Media has shown the true Divide of the people.. It s sad But its REAL. ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) March 8, 2017 | 0 |
Share This: B y ANDREW COCKBURN T he intrusion of the FBI into the 2016 presidential election may have come as a shock to most people, but it should not have surprised anyone who has spent time in the Oval Office. Stretching back to the days of J. Edgar Hoover, presidents have learned, sooner or later, that while they may revel in the title of “Chief Executive,” their command of coercive bureaucracies, such as the FBI and the intelligence agencies, along with the military services, and others, is limited at best. ABOVE: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover succeeded in holding power for life by bribing politicians with his knowledge of their sins and crimes. He himself was a reactionary and closet gay man. At worst, presidents may find these powerful institutions actively colluding with their political enemies. Currently, we have credible reports of agents in the New York FBI Field Office defying their nominal superiors in the justice department to dig with zeal into the Clinton Foundation on the basis of nebulous leads from a partisan and largely discredited screed by a former Bush speechwriter. Richard Nixon would have found this a familiar scenario. Early in his presidency, he came to appreciate how little control he exerted over the assorted fiefdoms of the intelligence and law enforcement bureaucracies. His solution was to set up a whole new police agency with extraordinary powers, the Drug Enforcement Administration, using the cover of a war on drugs, that would be under his direct control. Recognizing this for the threat it was, the entrenched institutions struck back, crippling Nixon with media leaks, notably those from “Deep Throat”, deputy FBI director Mark Felt. Sometimes the hobbling of executive power may emanate not from widely recognized instruments of power, such as the FBI, but from more obscure but nonetheless potent corners of the enforcement universe. Thus the Obama Administration’s signature foreign policy achievement, the agreement to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment program, is currently being actively undermined by a little-known branch of the U.S. Treasury, OFAC, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which supervises the enforcement of US sanctions around the world. Under the agreement hammered out by Secretary of State John Kerry in July 2015, Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in return for the lifting of an array of economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other western powers in recent years. The most onerous of these controls were those enjoining banks from doing business with nominated Iranian banks and other entities, with savage penalties levied on anyone who infringed the rules. The effect has been to deter international banks from doing any business of any kind with Iranian banks, for fear of inadvertently triggering a billion dollar fine from the U.S. sanctions police. Recognizing that the Iranians might lose faith in the agreement if promised rewards from the ability to trade freely with the rest of the world do not appear, the Obama Administration has taken steps to remedy the situation, or thinks it has. Speaking recently at a ceremony in London honoring his role in negotiating the deal, Kerry announced that so long as banks make a pro forma effort to ensure they were not dealing with a sanctioned institution (there are still plenty of those) OFAC would not penalize them even if it turned out they were wrong. “OFAC… has made it very, very clear that if you do due diligence in the normal fashion,” said Kerry, “and later it turns out it was some unenforceable entity that pops up, you will not be held accountable for that.” Except that OFAC has different ideas. As detailed by attorney Tyler Cullis, a specialist in sanctions regulations, writing in the blog SanctionLaw, OFAC states on its own website that the “normal” due diligence cited by Kerry is absolutely not “necessarily sufficient.” Instead, Treasury’s Acting Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin, OFAC’s boss, has made it clear that anyone doing banking business with Iran had better exercise “ enhanced (my emphasis) due diligence,” essentially meaning they have to prove their counterparties are pure as the driven snow, or they will get it in the neck. The consequences are predictable; international banks will deem it smart to pay attention to the sanctions cops rather than the diplomat and steer clear of Iranian business, with consequent disillusionment over the deal in Iran and the neutralizing of a key administration success. As Nixon might have said, par for the course. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS PLEASE COMMENT AND DEBATE DIRECTLY ON OUR FACEBOOK GROUP CLICK HERE ABOUT THE AUTHOR Andrew Cockburn is the Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine . An Irishman, he has covered national security topics in this country for many years. In addition to publishing numerous books, he co-produced the 1997 feature film The Peacemaker and the 2009 documentary on the financial crisis American Casino . His latest book is Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins (Henry Holt). Note to Commenters Due to severe hacking attacks in the recent past that brought our site down for up to 11 days with considerable loss of circulation, we exercise extreme caution in the comments we publish, as the comment box has been one of the main arteries to inject malicious code. 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What will it take to bring America to live according to its own propaganda? =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week. | 0 |
Donald Trump is a clear and present threat to the United States of America. That fact is indisputable at this point; after all, a Senator in his own party just said so in strikingly blunt terms. However, the GOP-controlled House has been silent on Trump s dangerous antics, because they fear his lighting them up on Twitter, and they also fear retaliation by his crazy base at the ballot box. But it seems that Rep. Al Green (D- TX) has had enough.On Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Green took the floor of the House of Representatives and formally introduced Articles of Impeachment against Trump. Green began: I rise today on behalf of the many who have concluded that enough is enough. Green went on to say that Trump s being in the White House is is fueling an alt-right hate machine, which is currently causing immediate injury to American society. On top of that, Green introduced his Articles as privileged, meaning that the House needs to take them up within the next two days.Now, obviously this will go nowhere. Those craven Republicans don t care that Trump is destroying the country, just as long as they get every bigoted right-wing fever dream they ve had for the last eight years codified into law, with a few tax cuts for rich people thrown in, oh, just for fun.In short, these Republicans KNOW that Trump is unfit, and could even land us in a nuclear holocaust if he can t be kept away from the nuclear codes. In fact, at this point, any responsible person will do what was done to President Nixon in his final days, when he reportedly was drinking heavily and wandering the halls of the White House conversing with portraits of dead presidents. At that time, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and soon-to-be President Gerald Ford insisted that those responsible for launching nuclear weapons went through them rather than Nixon, because they knew Nixon to be dangerous.General John Kelly, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and other adults in the room had better be doing the same with Trump, who is MUCH more dangerous than Nixon ever dreamed of being.Please, someone show some courage in the Republican House and go along with Rep. Green. It s time to impeach Trump.Watch Rep. Green s remarks below:Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty images | 0 |
21st Century Wire says The following video presented by US-based activist Dahlia Wasfi was posted in 2012 but it remains extremely relevant today when one considers the current trajectory of instability in the the Middle East.WATCH BIBI: Knows the US Congress is bought and paid for. Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) dvisory board includes such notable figures as Michael Ledeen, Richard Perle, and R. James Woolsey, while Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Representative to the United Nations John Bolton, and former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith were all on JINSA s Board of Advisors before they entered the Bush administration. Jason Vest, writing in The Nation, alleges that JINSA, along with Frank Gaffney s Center for Security Policy, are underwritten by far-right American Zionists and both believe strongly that regime change by any means necessary in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority is an urgent imperative. SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
Do you hear that sucking sound? That s the Obama regime sucking more and more of your freedoms away every day In northern Idaho, residents are standing guard against a federal government determined to disarm those they deem unworthy. About 100 locals in Bonner County are stationed outside the home of U.S. Navy Veteran John Arnold, including Sheriff Daryl Wheeler and two state lawmakers.Arnold, who lives in Priest River, received a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs warning him he is not permitted to purchase or possess firearms, the AP is reporting.Rep. Matthew Shea of Spokane Valley, who described the event as a defiance against tyranny. I took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and uphold the laws of Idaho, Wheeler said. This seemed appropriate to show my support. I was going to make sure Mr. Arnold s rights weren t going to be breached. During Thursday s demonstration, the group at times broke out in song to sing God Bless America and pray while waving both the American flag and the Don t tread on me flag. With a population of just 1,700, Priest River is near the tip of northern Idaho- a region known for its strong tea party roots and gun-rights activism.Arnold had a stroke one year ago. In January, paperwork filed with the VA stated that Arnold was financially incompetent and could not handle his own affairs.Arnold claimed the box that was checked was done in error and he was always competent to handle himself. However, the VA said that due to the paperwork, Arnold was no longer allowed to buy, sell or possess firearms. If somebody else makes an error and they cause you grief they should fix it, said Arnold. That s all I want is that stuff to get fixed. The Department of Veterans Affairs can declare a vet incompetent by fiat if they so wish, in direct violation of the Second Amendment.Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas proposed legislation that would require court action before barring gun purchases by veterans declared incompetent.Via: DownTrend | 1 |
Share on Facebook Experts claim that the improper body posture is the major cause of problems and pain in the joints, legs, and back. Such issues may cause even more complications, so they need to be treated on time. This natural remedy restores the proper function of knees and joints and enhances the structure of bones and ameliorates their consistency. This is how to prepare this gelatin treatment: Ingredients: 2 tablespoons of unflavoured gelatin (40 grams) 8 teaspoons flaxseeds | 0 |
A shameless promotion of amnesty by our Feds. Obama and the Democrats are willing to do whatever it takes It s all about the votes The Obama administration is encouraging the 8.8 million eligible lawful permanent residents to become U.S. citizen with efforts aimed at raising awareness about the process and pressing more immigrants to naturalize.Just for fun the Obama regime threw in this silly little reminder (see end of tweet where VOTE is prominently displayed in upper case letters. This tweet (featured in the Spanish speaking video) basically serves as a reminder: If you gain your citizenship through our efforts, you must vote to keep the Democrats (who were willing to sell out their nation) in office Monday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services the agency responsible for overseeing immigration to the U.S. is out with a video composed of a compilation of six word entries via social media from citizens of any country, living anywhere about what U.S. citizenship means to them. Back in September, we asked you to share what U.S. citizenship means to you in six words using the hashtag: #citizenship6. You responded in ways that touched us, challenged us and showed us that one word has so many meanings, the agency explained.The agency released two versions of the video one in English and one in Spanish. We also created banners for our home page that we ll post over the coming months. Enjoy the video, and please share it with your friends and family! the agency added.In order to naturalize most applicants must demonstrate they can understand, read, write, and speak basic English. | 1 |
November 1, 2016 Obama’s Israel Surprise?
The Middle East has few bright spots these days, but one is the budding rapprochement between Israel and its Sunni Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, thanks to shared threats from Iran and Islamic State. Now the Obama Administration may have plans to wreck even that.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers should follow their conscience on whether to support Donald Trump in November’s presidential election, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said in an interview, reflecting the party’s unease over its White House candidate. “The last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something that’s contrary to their conscience. Of course I wouldn’t do that,” the Republicans’ most senior elected official said in excerpts released on Friday of an NBC interview set to air on Sunday. Some Republican leaders and lawmakers in the House of Representatives are struggling to get behind the New York businessman, who last month became the party’s presumptive nominee for the Nov. 8 election. After an initial delay, Ryan has said he will back Trump but he has also acknowledged deep differences with him. He denounced as textbook racism Trump’s criticism of a Mexican-American judge and has also criticized Trump’s proposal - reiterated after the massacre of 49 people in a gay bar in Orlando on Sunday - to temporarily bar Muslims from the United States. As Republicans seek to keep control of both chambers of Congress, Trump’s comments on such issues have also worried some lawmakers concerned about their own election prospects, particularly in close races. All 247 House Republican seats are up for grabs in the election. Trump, who has welcomed support from Ryan, this week fired back at Republican leaders, telling them to stop speaking out against him or else risk him potentially running “by myself.” Ryan said earlier this week at his weekly press conference that he does not plan to withdraw his support of Trump, although they disagree on some key issues. “I feel as a responsibility institutionally as the speaker of the House that I should not be leading some chasm in the middle of our party. Because you know what I know that’ll do? That’ll definitely knock us out of the White House,” Ryan said in the interview for NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. Trump’s embrace this week of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and potential gun control measures, in contrast to general Republican orthodoxy have also thrown conservative lawmakers. Still, Republican leaders have to reconcile their unease with the fact that primary Republican voters opted for Trump. He has never held elected office before but won more than enough delegates to secure the party’s nomination at the Republican convention in July. | 0 |
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey s border with northern Iraq remains open, although that does not mean it will remain so, the Turkish customs minister said on Wednesday, adding the number of trucks passing through had decreased. Bulent Tufenkci also said he did not believe that the Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq would have a big impact on Turkish trade with Baghdad. President Tayyip Erdogan has said Iraqi Kurds would go hungry if his country halts the flow of trucks and oil across the border, warning that Turkey could take military and economic measures against its neighbor after the referendum The Habur border gate is open for now, we see that the numbers of vehicles passing are decreased, Tufenkci said, referring to the main border crossing with northern Iraq. The Habur border gate being open for now does not mean that it will remain open, he said in comments broadcast live on television. Turkey, home to the region s largest Kurdish population, has been battling a three-decade insurgency in its largely Kurdish southeast and fears the referendum, held earlier this week, will inflame separatist tension at home. We can continue trading with the Iraqi central government through Iran or via sea or airways, Tufenkci said. Turkey has long been northern Iraq s main link to the outside world, with a Turkish oil pipeline connecting northern Iraq to global energy markets. Iraq, including the Kurdish region, was Turkey s third-largest export market in 2016, according to IMF data. Turkish exports to the country totaled $8.6 billion, behind Germany and the United Kingdom. | 1 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration signed its final plan for renewable fuel use in the United States last week, leaving an oil industry reeling from the most aggressive biofuel targets yet as President-elect Donald Trump takes over. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, signed into law by President George W. Bush, is one of the country’s most controversial energy policies. It requires energy firms to blend ethanol and biodiesel into gasoline and diesel. The policy was designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce U.S. reliance on oil imports and boost rural economies that provide the crops for biofuels. It has pitted two of Trump’s support bases against each other: Big Oil and Big Corn. The farming sector has lobbied hard for the maximum biofuel volumes laid out in the law to be blended into gasoline motor fuels, while the oil industry argues that the program creates additional costs. Balancing oil and farm interests is likely to prove a challenge for Trump, who has promised to curtail regulations on the oil industry but is already being reminded by biofuels advocates of the importance of the program to the American Midwest, where he received strong support from voters on Nov. 8. Oil groups are renewing their calls to change or repeal the program following Wednesday’s announcement, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set record mandates for renewable fuels - for the first time hitting levels targeted by Congress nearly a decade ago.. The EPA plan is “completely detached from market realities and confirms once again that Congress must take immediate action to remedy this broken program,” said Chet Thompson, President of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, in a statement. It is unclear what Trump’s plans for the program will be and his transition team did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Both camps are expecting an administration receptive to their demands, though both have expressed concern and uncertainty over Trump’s plans for the program, according to experts, industry and political sources. The installation of climate change skeptic Myron Ebell as head of the transition at the EPA bolstered oil industry confidence Trump will swing their way. In September, Trump appeared to briefly echo the views of his supporter, billionaire Carl Icahn, who expressed concern about the program. Icahn, who owns a stake in an oil refiner, renewed those criticisms last week, saying the ethanol credit market generated by the program is susceptible to manipulation and harming independent refiners. PRO-ETHANOL CAMPAIGNING The president-elect campaigned on a pro-ethanol platform when he visited America’s farm states and biofuels advocates expect he will keep the RFS strong, maintaining annual targets at the minimum set forth by Congress. “Mr. Trump will not turn his back on the American heartland, we believe in him,” said Annette Sweeney, a former state representative from Iowa who was a member of the Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during his candidacy. “To a certain extent, we are on higher ground. You always want to be on higher ground,” said Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, referring to the increase. “We’ll be able to demonstrate the marketplace can absorb 15 billion gallons of ethanol. We can put this all behind us. As we look to 2018... there’s no reason to go back,” he said. The renewables industries have already started to emphasize their place among American-made fuels, something experts expect will appeal to Trump. “There are a lot of good things to be said about second-generation fuels, even from the new administration’s perspective,” said Harvard University professor and former Obama administration advisor James Stock. “All the new administration needs to do is embrace the original ... vision of the RFS,” he said. | 1 |
Регион: Европа Как отмечает в своей новой статье постоянный обозреватель «Нового Восточного Обозрения» французский эксперт Жан Перье, европейские политики, следуя в фарватере политики Белого дома и наращивая в последние годы безосновательную пропагандистскую риторику о якобы увеличившейся для Европы военной угрозе со стороны России, Ирана, Китая, все больше переориентировали свои политические курсы на дальнейшую милитаризацию Европы в ущерб социальным программам в ЕС. Как подчеркивает автор, на фоне предстоящих в ближайшие месяцы выборных кампаний в ряде европейских стран, не трудно догадаться, какова на эти предложения военно-промышленных кругов США и Европы будет реакция населения ЕС, которое вряд ли будет поддерживать нынешних политиков и с большей активностью пойдет по пути американского «Трампсита». Тем более, что социальное положение европейцев в последние годы только ухудшается, обрекая на бедственное положение все более широкие массы населения Старого света. 25 миллионов детей в странах ЕС живут «под угрозой бедности», такие данные приводит доклад Eurostat — статистической службы Евросоюза . Как написала The Guardian , рождение ребенка и одновременный съем жилья — недоступные «роскошь» для молодых семей в Великобритании. В Германии продолжает расти разрыв между бедными и богатыми, говорится в докладе министерства труда ФРГ. В Финляндии количество детей, живущих в бедных семьях, за последние 20 лет почти утроилось, пишет Yle . От нехватки денег страдают не только одинокие родители и безработные, но также семьи, родители в которых работают. С 2008 года в странах ЕС растет народный протест по поводу продолжающегося финансового кризиса, глобализации, самоустранения правящих элит от трудностей, которые переживает простое население, от замены социальных программ на увеличение военных расходов. В этих условиях, подчеркивает автор, все отчетливее просматриваются очевидные параллели между недовольством, которое привело к «Брекситу» и победе Трампа, с требованиями сторонников AfD в Германии, падением до самого низкого уровня рейтинга французского президента-социалиста Ф.Олланда, с ростом влияния популистской Партии свободы Вилдерса в Голландии, с возможностью прихода к власти крайне-правого кандидата в президенты Австрии Норберта Хофера. С полным содержанием статьи вы можете ознакомиться здесь . Популярные статьи | 1 |
BNI Store Nov 6 2016 Like a good little sharia-compliant female, Prince Charles’ wife Camilla removes her shoes to enter a mosque in Abu Dhabi, but the Prince of Wales keeps his shoes on The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall have visited the spectacular Sheikh Zaved Grand Mosque to promote religious tolerance. ( HAH! ) UK Daily Mail Charles was dressed in a linen suit and striped tie, while Camilla wore a blue headscarf, long jacket and trousers. Visitors to the mosque must remove their footwear, BUT Charles walked round in black shoes while his wife went barefoot with her head covered. The mosque was established in 2008 and sits at the entrance to Abu Dhabi City Island. It aims to work with research centres and religious, educational and cultural institutions within the United Arab Emirates and across the world. | 1 |
This week, Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the Center for Disease Control s Director, Thomas Friedman. In the letter, Warren urges them to begin to consider medical marijuana as a way of combating skyrocketing rates of opioid addiction.Warren called for the CDC to do two things specifically in her letter. Warren wants the CDC to work with other organizations to fill in the gaps in the government s knowledge on the the use, uptake and effectiveness of medical marijuana as an alternative to opioids for pain treatment in states where it is legal . Warren also asked for them to find out more about the the impact of the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana on opioid overdose deaths .The CDC s own website makes it very clear that there is a problem with patients being overprescribed opiates and the deadly consequences it has had on society. They write: In a period of nine months, a tiny Kentucky county of fewer than 12,000 people sees a 53-year-old mother, her 35-year-old son, and seven others die by overdosing on prescription painkillers obtained from pain clinics in Florida. In Utah, a 13-year-old fatally overdoses on oxycodone pills taken from a friend s grandmother. A 20-year-old Boston man dies from an overdose of methadone, only a year after his friend also died from a prescription painkiller overdose.These are not isolated events. Each day, 44 people in the United States die from overdose of prescription painkillers. Chronic pain is the number one reason that people are prescribed medical marijuana. As much progress as has been made in efforts to legalize medical marijuana have been, there is still a long way to go. 27 states still have yet to legalize medical marijuana. If the CDC were to find enough evidence to come out in support for the legalization of medical marijuana as a way to curb opioid prescriptions, it would be a huge win for medical marijuana advocates.Featured image from elizabethwarren.com | 1 |
ANKARA (Reuters) - At least 530 people were killed in Iran s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade, state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday, adding that more than 8,000 others were injured. Iran said on Tuesday that rescue operations had ended in the western province of Kermanshah that was hit on Sunday by the 7.3-magnitude quake. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A selection of recent U.S. appeals court rulings in which Obama judicial appointees played a significant role: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, July 29 A three-judge panel featuring two Obama appointees struck down North Carolina’s voter identification law on a 3-0 vote, saying it had a discriminatory intent. 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, April 19 The court ruled 2-1 in favor of a transgender student seeking to use a boys’ restroom, with two Obama appointees in the majority. U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, June 14 On a 2-1 vote, with an Obama appointee in the majority, the court upheld the Federal Communication Commission’s major “net neutrality” regulation. 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Oct. 19, 2015 A panel featuring two Obama appointees and one judge appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton rejected challenges to gun regulations in New York and Connecticut passed in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, July 7, 2015 The court allowed employee class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc to move forward. An Obama appointee wrote the opinion, while a Republican appointee partially dissented. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, August 22 A three-judge panel featuring one Obama nominee in the majority ruled 2-1 in favor of the right of employers to bring class claims against employers in a case involving Ernst & Young. | 0 |
RAQQA, Syria (Reuters) - The ancient mud brick walls circling Raqqa s deserted old city are almost the only structure still intact. Inside, shops and homes spill crumbling concrete onto either side of the narrow roads, block after block. Fighting between U.S.-backed militias and Islamic State in the jihadist group s former Syria stronghold has peppered mosques and minarets with machine-gun fire while air strikes flattened houses. No building is untouched. The old clock tower could be heard from outside the walls once. It s damaged now. It s silent, Mohammed Hawi, an Arab fighter from Raqqa, said at a nearby home occupied by the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance (SDF). Raqqa, where Islamic State plotted attacks abroad during its three-year rule, is almost captured in a months-old offensive backed by U.S. air cover and special forces. But driving militants out has caused destruction that officials say will take years and cost millions of dollars to repair. The nascent Raqqa Civil Council, set up to rebuild and govern Raqqa, faces a huge task. It says aid from countries in the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS is so far insufficient. Raqqa s uncertain political future, as it comes under the sway of Kurdish-led forces which neighbor Turkey opposes, and is still coveted by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is partly what has made coalition countries hesitate, diplomats say. But failure to quickly return services to the city that was once home to more than 200,000 people, mostly now displaced, risks unrest, they warn. Infrastructure is completely destroyed, water, electricity networks, bridges. There s not a single service functioning, said Ibrahim Hassan, who oversees reconstruction for the Raqqa council at its headquarters in nearby Ain Issa. We gave our city as a sacrifice for the sake of defeating terrorism. It s the world s duty to help us, he said. A major bridge leading into eastern Raqqa lies collapsed after a coalition air strike. Beyond it, damaged water towers and the skeletons of teetering residential blocks dot the skyline. Awnings hung by militants to hide their movements flap in the wind. Senior council member Omar Alloush estimated at least half the city is completely destroyed. There are also bodies under rubble, of civilians and terrorists. These need reburying to avoid disease outbreaks, he said. Amnesty International has said the U.S.-led campaign, including air strikes, has killed hundreds of civilians trapped in Raqqa. Residents have reported civilian deaths, but it is difficult to establish how many people have died. The coalition says it does all it can to avoid civilian casualties. But the city is densely built up and militants firing from homes are often targeted by air raids. Council officials said with the battle still raging in a small, encircled area of the city center and countless explosives rigged by militants in areas they abandoned, reconstruction has not yet begun. The focus is on emergency aid, food and water, de-mining, Hassan said. The council wants to get services up and running as soon as possible, but has limited capacity and is staffed by volunteers. At its headquarters the offices of several departments consist of a single desk in a shared room. Support from the international community has improved and we feel less isolated, but it s been modest, Hassan said. The United States delivered several bulldozers and other vehicles to the council to clear debris recently, the Raqqa council said, out of a total of 56 due to arrive. Even 700 wouldn t be enough, Alloush said. Raqqa council volunteers have said they told the coalition it will take 5.3 billion Syrian lira (about $10 million) a year to restore power and water supplies, roads and schools. It is feared delays could reignite unrest. Groups that took over Raqqa in 2013 didn t run it well, a Western diplomat in the region said, referring to Syrian insurgents who seized the city from Assad s forces earlier in the six-year-old civil war, before IS arrived. That s partly what allowed Daesh (IS) to take over. If there s a gap in humanitarian assistance and no effective local governance structure, the risk of future violence increases. The council said coalition countries were reluctant to aid the Raqqa council, made up of local engineers, teachers and doctors. We ve suffered from bureaucracy in the decision making process for foreign aid, Hassan said. Some coalition countries were concerned about relations with NATO member Turkey over support for a governing body perceived to be allied to Kurdish militia, the diplomat said. The SDF, which for now controls much of Raqqa, is spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, a foe of Ankara which is fighting its own Kurdish insurgency. Turkey opposes the YPG s role in capturing Raqqa. Council officials say Raqqa will be governed independently of a self-run administration for northeast Syria that is dominated by Kurds, but is expected to have close relations with it. The extent of those relations is to be decided by elected officials once elections can be held. A second diplomat in the region said reluctance to aid the council was partly over concerns whether it properly represented the ethnic make-up of mostly Arab Raqqa, seeing tension if local Arabs were sidelined. Several prominent council members are Kurdish. There is also uncertainty over whether Raqqa will remain allied to the self-run parts of northern Syria, or if it would fall back to Assad in future upheaval. Assad has sworn to retake the entire country. For now, with Turkey s borders closed to SDF-controlled areas, aid to Raqqa comes a longer route through Iraq s Kurdish region. Raqqa council says it may have to be self-sufficient. We re waiting for help to repair the east bridge, co-president Leila Mustafa, a civil engineer, said. If it doesn t arrive soon, we ll begin ourselves, using any means we have. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thursday adds a new layer of uncertainty to U.S. President Barack Obama’s faltering “pivot” to Asia less than a month before the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential elections. The king was important in cementing the long-standing alliance between the United States and Thailand after World War Two, in a reign that spanned the Vietnam War and development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Washington still considers vital to maintaining its influence in the region. King Bhumibol’s death coincides with faltering momentum in Obama’s signature policy of rebalancing the U.S. diplomatic and security focus to the Asia-Pacific region in the face of China’s rapid rise. The main economic pillar of the rebalance, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, is languishing in the U.S. Congress with no guarantee that Obama will be able to push it through before leaving the presidency to Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, both of whom say they oppose the deal. Clinton, as secretary of state under fellow-Democrat Obama from 2009-13, was one of the architects of the policy but Republican Trump has questioned the extent to which he would maintain the U.S. security commitment to East Asia. Obama’s efforts to boost security ties with Southeast Asia have come in response to China’s pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, a vital strategic waterway. However, a torrent of anti-American rhetoric from new Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has cast doubt on the U.S. military relationship with Manila just months after Washington reached an agreement on rotating access to bases in the country. Other Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, are focused on internal political issues and are avoiding playing any leadership role in ASEAN, while even traditionally reliable regional ally Australia is treading carefully to avoid jeopardizing its economic ties with Beijing. Thailand was already occupying a back seat in regional affairs following a 2014 military coup seen as a means to maintain stability during the king’s long illness. Thailand is expected to turn further inward during a prolonged mourning period and potentially politically fragile royal succession. King Bhumibol’s son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who is expected to become Thailand’s new king, lacks the strong connection to the United States of his father, who was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Obama offered condolences to the Thai people and the King’s family, calling King Bhumibol “a tireless champion of his country’s development.” Obama’s former top Asia adviser, Evan Medeiros, now at the Eurasia Group, said the mourning process would likely slow a return to democratic government and Prince Vajiralongkorn was a source of “profound uncertainty.” “He’s such an unknown, unpredictable figure,” he said. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States and Thailand had been close friends for two centuries. “Our friendship and our partnership have weathered many challenges … we expect it to continue to grow stronger,” Toner told a regular news briefing. While the United States backed a return to democracy, Toner said it would be “premature... to lay our expectations for the near term” as Thailand mourned. While Washington condemned the 2014 coup, it has kept security ties with Bangkok, particularly through annual military exercises called Cobra Gold. “The fact that we have been able to remain closely tethered and stayed largely on track with Cobra Gold and other cooperative efforts, notwithstanding the military takeover ... is testament to the strong roots we have put down and the work that we’re doing,” the senior U.S. diplomat for Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, said on Wednesday. Murray Hiebert of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said much had changed since Obama announced his pivot policy in 2011. “The king’s death adds to uncertainty in Southeast Asia, a region in considerable flux already. This makes the U.S. rebalance to Asia more difficult because the situation in so many countries is that of ‘wait and see.’ “When the pivot started, you had Thailand engaged, a new leader in Malaysia who wanted to engage, you had Aquino coming in the Philippines and very forward-leaning internationally and very open to the U.S.; you had an internationalist president in Indonesia. It was a rather different dynamic.” King Bhumibol’s death means Washington finds itself having to rely even more on former foe Vietnam for any kind of strategic ballast in the region. “The Vietnamese are providing the dynamism when it comes to strategic thinking,” U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said in Washington on Tuesday. “Indonesia is very internally focused right now ... Thailand is very internally focused, and Malaysia has a rolling political crisis,” he continued. “I don’t know exactly what direction the Philippines is headed; Singapore has a lot of strategic thinkers but it’s a city state; I don’t think you can really count on Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to provide the strategic engine for ASEAN.” There appears little prospect for now, however, that Vietnam would be willing to open its doors further to the U.S. military should the deal with the Philippines run into problems, given past animosities and concerns about China. “I do not expect the Vietnamese calculation to be, ‘Oh, the Philippines is doing whatever it’s doing, let’s race full steam ahead with the United States.’ No, that’s not about to happen,” Osius said. “The Vietnamese have been very measured in the pace at which they have expanded the security relationship.” Hiebert said Asian countries remain keen on the U.S. pivot, given their worries about China, but the pace was likely to flag further, presenting a tougher task to revive the initiative once Obama leaves power. “I wouldn’t declare the pivot dead ... I think there’s still quite a bit of interest in the U.S., but some of the sort of dynamism that we saw earlier about building the region is a little bit diminished right now,” he said. | 1 |
WASHINGTON — After decades of mistrust and fitful reconciliation efforts, India and the United States made a turn toward cooperation on Tuesday, and Donald J. Trump can claim at least some of the credit. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, making his second visit to the White House in two years, announced a crucial step toward ratification of the Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gases, bringing the accord close to full implementation. The two sides also announced that they intended to complete a deal in which India will buy six nuclear reactors from Westinghouse by June 2017, fulfilling an agreement struck in 2005 by President George W. Bush. The price is still under discussion, but more difficult issues like liability have been resolved. “We continue to discuss a wide range of areas where we can cooperate more effectively in order to promote jobs, promote investment, promote trade and promote greater opportunities for our people, particularly young people, in both of our countries,” President Obama said in the Oval Office during the meeting. Mr. Modi responded with his own praise of the burgeoning partnership. When President Obama visited India in January 2015, Mr. Modi referred to him as “Barack” and thanked him for his “deep personal commitment” to their friendship. In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Mr. Modi referred to the president as “my friend Obama. ” “The United States is well aware of the talent that India has,” Mr. Modi said in Hindi. “We and the United States can work together to bring forward this talent, and use it for the benefit of mankind and use it for the benefit of innovations and use it to achieve new progress. ” Mr. Modi has made clear that he intends to set aside decades of standoffishness — rooted in India’s colonial experience — to cement closer ties with Washington, in part because the next American leader may not share President Obama’s enthusiasm for India. The news media in India has extensively chronicled comments by Mr. Trump that critics have said were racist, his “America First” views and his unorthodox campaign. While Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has said little about India, his vows to tighten immigration policies worry Indian officials. “Modi wants to get as much as he can out of Obama’s last months in office,” said Ashley J. Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. For the Americans, the most important part of Mr. Modi’s visit was his announced intention to formally join the Paris climate change agreement by the end of this year. So far, countries representing about 50 percent of global emissions have announced that they will submit legal paperwork to the United Nations documenting their compliance with the deal. The pact will become binding when at least 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions formally join. The inclusion of India, the world’s emitter after China and the United States, would guarantee that the deal will go into effect before the next American president takes office. Mr. Trump has vowed to “cancel” the Paris climate agreement if elected, something Mr. Obama is eager to prevent. Once the accord enters into legal force, no nation can legally withdraw for four years. “If the Paris agreement achieves ratification before Inauguration Day, it would be impossible for the Trump administration to renegotiate or even drop out during the first presidential term,” said Robert N. Stavins, the director of the environmental economics program at Harvard. Mr. Obama and Mr. Modi also announced a separate agreement to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons, potent chemicals produced by coolants in refrigerators and . India and the United States have been at odds on the details of such a deal, but the agreement announced on Tuesday means both governments now expect in October to sign on to an international accord to phase out the chemicals. Phasing out the chemicals could reduce by 25 percent the expected warming of the planet by the end of the century. “This is the most significant step the international community could take” to reduce climate warming, Brian Deese, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said in a call with reporters. The two sides also announced joint efforts for the United States to invest in India’s renewable energy development, including the creation of a $20 million finance initiative. The last time Mr. Modi visited, in September 2014, he was invited to dinner but announced that he was observing a religious fast. So Mr. Obama had the awkward task of eating before a guest who sipped only water. This time, at a working lunch, Mr. Modi ate. On Wednesday, Mr. Modi will become the fifth Indian prime minister to address both houses of Congress. The two countries finalized a deal that allows their forces to help each other with crucial supplies, and the United States formally recognized India as a major defense partner, which should allow India to buy some of the most sophisticated equipment in the United States arsenal. India’s increasing willingness to form military partnerships with the United States is, in part, a result of its deepening worries about China. Recent patrols by Chinese submarines in the Bay of Bengal have unnerved New Delhi, and a 2014 visit to India by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, did nothing to soothe Indian sensibilities, as Chinese troops made an incursion into border territory that India claims as its own. China’s refusal in the months since to resolve the territorial claims at the heart of the standoff has quietly infuriated Indian officials. Another reason Washington and New Delhi have grown so close is the increasingly testy relationship between the United States and Pakistan, India’s longtime rival. Although Pakistan is formally an ally of the United States, American officials have made clear that India has displaced Pakistan in American interests and hearts. “We have much more to do with India today than has to do with Pakistan,” Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said in April. “There is important business with respect to Pakistan, but we have much more, a whole global agenda with India, agenda that covers all kinds of issues. ” | 0 |
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Britain s rejection of a transgender woman s claim for a women s state pension because she was still married to her spouse from before her transition is discriminatory, an EU court adviser said on Tuesday. Advocate General Michal Bobek of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) stated in a non-binding opinion that marriage status does not play a role in accessing state retirement pensions for people who are not transgender. This amounts to direct discrimination on the basis of sex, which is not open to objective justification, a news release of the opinion stated. The opinion was issued for a case where a transgender woman - who was registered as a boy at birth but has lived as a woman since 1991 and had gender reassignment surgery in 1995 - in the UK applied for a state retirement pension when she turned 60 in 2008. According to UK law, a woman born before Apr. 6, 1950 must be 60 to access the state retirement pension, whereas for a man born before Dec. 6 1953 the age is 65. Her application was denied because she didn t apply for a full gender recognition certificate due to the fact that she remained married to a woman and her marriage would have been annulled at the time as same-sex marriage was not legal in Britain. The UK Supreme Court asked the ECJ if the requirement to be unmarried to recognize a change in gender, and thus determine the qualifying age for a state pension, was allowed under EU law. The Advocate General concludes that there is unequal treatment since marital status does not play any role for cisgender persons in order to access a state retirement pension, whereas married transgender persons are subject to the requirement to annul their marriage, the court s press release said. The court tends to follow the advice given by the advocate general in most cases, but it is not bound to do so. The advocate general stressed that this was not a case about same-sex marriage. Member states are not compelled to recognize same-sex marriage, and they can still determine the conditions under which a change of gender will be legally recognized. | 0 |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday he approved of Austria s coalition agreement, saying he would judge the government of Christian Democrats and the far-right Freedom Party by its deeds. As is the case with all governments, we will assess the Austrian government by its deeds, Juncker told a news conference in Brussels, after meeting with Austria s new Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Juncker said he believed the coalition agreement showed Austria was on a pro-European path. | 1 |
On Thursday night, CNN s Guns In America town hall meeting on gun violence attracted the attendance of several gun legislation opponents, but strangely enough the most outspoken pro-gun group wasn t there to counter President Barack Obama on his executive action. Host Anderson Cooper said that the National Rifle Association (NRA) had definitely been invited, but chose not to attend. Proving that it was all talk and no action, the gun advocacy group had declined the opportunity to participate in the live Q&A session with the President, and basically forfeited their right to complain about the issues going forward. NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said the reason the association declined was because the meeting was just a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House. However, that didn t stop the NRA from whining and giving their opinion during the town hall meeting anyway. As the organization watched Obama talk about tightening background checks and closing loopholes for gun sales, the NRA decided to live-tweet the event a choice it would immediately regret.NRA TwitterNRA TwitterNRA TwitterAs Guns In America went on, the NRA made up for its lack of physical presence by filling its Twitter feed with criticisms of Obama and shared several equally ridiculous posts from gun rights advocates. Thankfully, not everyone on Twitter is as thick-headed and came to Obama s rescue to set the NRA straight:TwitterTwitterSome even chose to remind the association to shut the f*ck up since it couldn t be bothered to confront Obama in person.TwitterObama also took some time out of the town hall to blast the NRA for backing out of the discussion and expressed his disappointment in an organization that has been so vocal against gun legislation. He said: Part of the reason I welcomed this opportunity by CNN to have a good discussion debate about it is because our position is consistently mischaracterized. There s a reason why the NRA is not here. They re just down the street. And, since this is the main reason they exist, you d think they d be prepared to have a debate with the president.I m happy to meet with them. I m happy to talk to them, but, the conversation has to be based on facts and truth, and what we re actually proposing, not some you know, imaginary fiction in which Obama s trying to take away your guns. Featured image courtesy of Joe Crimmings via Flickr | 0 |
It turns out that there are a few new reasons for Wisconsin to proceed with their recount, and they have nothing to do with Jill Stein s recount petition. Yes, she filed the petition and yes, she paid the fee, but the state needed to do this even without Stein s request. A new analysis in the Washington Post discovered significant voting anomalies in several wards.Trump now leads Hillary by just over 22,000 votes in Wisconsin. The WaPo analysis didn t look at precincts or counties they looked at wards, which are the smallest unit where votes are counted. This helped create a more detailed picture of what s happening there.Walter Mebane, an associate researcher at the Center for Political Studies and a professor of political science and statistics at the University of Michigan, looked at small wards that used optical scanning technology, and found that certain features in the vote tabulations reveal the possibility that these counts were tampered with.For instance, using a method called last digit diagnostics, Mebane found that the tabulations he looked at should have last digits that, when averaged together, show a mean of around 4.5. Lower could mean that the counts were manipulated.In the small wards he looked at where optical scanning tech was used, the last digit diagnostics reveal a mean average much lower than 4.5.Another statistic Mebane looked at was how often the last digit of a vote tabulation was zero, or five. If there are no problems, then the mean average of that variable should be around 0.2. Larger could mean someone was sloppy, and smaller could mean votes were manipulated.In these small wards, that number was significantly smaller than .2 for Hillary, meaning that the vote counts show a last digit of zero or five far less often than they should.He also found evidence of something called signaling in the tabulations, which is when fraudsters leave a type of trail that more or less claims credit for the fraud. Mebane points out that this is actually a fairly common tactic amongst fraudsters in Russia.Finally, a simple test revealed something called multimodality, which could show that someone was receiving fraudulent votes. These small wards exhibited that anomaly, too.None of this is absolute proof of election fraud or vote fraud in Wisconsin, and Mebane is careful to note that. However, it gives credence to the need for a recount, whatever Jill Stein s motivations are. If nothing else, conducting a thorough recount will lend further legitimacy to our democratic process or concretely reveal problems that need to be fixed. It might also serve to weaken Trump s efforts to undermine our democracy by repeatedly crying FRAUD!! FRAUD EVERYWHERE!! The recount begins today.Featured image by Darren Hauck via Getty Images | 0 |
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany s Social Democrats agreed on Friday, under intense pressure, to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel on renewing their outgoing coalition government, but pledged that party members would have the final say on any deal. The about-turn by the center-left SPD, which had said it would go into opposition after suffering its worst result in 70 years in September s election, could help avert a disruptive repeat vote in Europe s economic and political powerhouse. SPD leader Martin Schulz told a news conference the party leadership had reached the decision out of a sense of responsibility to Germany and Europe after Merkel s attempt to form a government with the pro-business Free Democrats and environmental Greens smaller parties collapsed on Sunday. There is nothing automatic about the direction we are moving in, Schulz said. If a discussion results in us deciding to participate, in any form whatsoever, in the formation of a government, we will put it to a vote of party members. Schulz told 300 members of the party s youth wing - who rejected another grand coalition at a conference in Saarbruecken - that nothing had been decided. But he suggested that governing could offer better chances to achieve his primary goal of improving the lives of people in Germany and around the world. From which position is that best possible? What is more important? The radiance of our decisions, or the improvement of the everyday lives of people? Schulz told the group. He said he noted the group s position and thanked them for their support in the September election. But he said he expected their loyalty and constructive cooperation with whatever path was ultimately decided by the party s leadership. Backing for a new government could mean forming a coalition, agreeing not to obstruct a Merkel-led minority government, or other options yet to be explored, SPD deputy leader Ralf Stegner told broadcaster ZDF. Rainer Haseloff, the premier of the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt and a member of Merkel s center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), told Reuters: I think opinion is moving in the direction of there being a grand coalition. He said conservatives would look at the SPD s proposals, but the bloc would not agree to any move to replace Merkel. Juergin Trittin, a senior Greens member, told Germany s RND newspaper group it was a question of when, not if the SPD would agree to discuss another coalition with conservatives. Stegner, who is skeptical about another grand coalition, told broadcaster ZDF the SPD would extract a price for any deal. The SPD won t go cheaply, he said, without elaborating. Merkel spoke with reporters after an event in Brussels, but declined to answer any questions. A poll conducted on Monday, before the latest SPD comments, showed half of Germans supported the SPD s initial rejection of a new grand coalition, while 44 percent would support renewing the coalition government that has ruled for the past four years. Six out of 10 Germans would support a new election, the poll by infratest dimap for broadcaster ARD showed. Over her 12 years in power, Merkel has embraced a succession of coalition partners who then went on to suffer painful electoral defeats. A cartoon published by Cicero magazine on Friday depicted the SPD as a mouse being enticed out of its hole by a waiting feline Merkel. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will host a meeting with Schulz, Merkel and Horst Seehofer, leader of the CDU s arch-conservative Bavarian sister party, next Thursday. Steinmeier, a former SPD foreign minister, has urged his former party to reverse its pledge to go into opposition, having made clear that he saw fresh elections as a last resort. The crisis has arisen because Merkel s conservatives also lost votes in September as the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany surged into parliament. With the SPD licking its wounds, an unlikely-looking three-way coalition with smaller parties had appeared the only option for the weakened chancellor. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The No. 2 Republican in the U.S. Senate said on Thursday he believes the party will unite behind presumptive nominee Donald Trump. “I think you will see people unifying behind the nominee ... people don’t want four more years of this administration under Hillary Clinton,” Senator John Cornyn told reporters after a meeting with Trump. | 0 |
Social media erupted yesterday when outspoken comedian Kathy Griffin, posed for a photo shoot with controversial photographer Tyler Shields where she held a bloodied, decapitated mask of President Trump.Today, Melania Trump questioned Kathy Griffin s mental health in a blistering statement after she posted a photo of her holding a bloodied, decapitated version of President Trump s head.The video posted on Twitter of Griffin holding the decapitated head of President Trump has since been removed. As a mother, a wife, and a human being, that photo is very disturbing, the first lady said in a statement Wednesday. When you consider some of the atrocities happening in the world today, a photo opportunity like this is simply wrong and makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it. Daily CallerPresident Trump took to Twitter to respond to the unbelievably vile comedian Kathy Griffin. Trump s tweet also reminded Griffin that he has an 11-year old son who has the ability to see her disgusting depiction of his father s bloodied, decapitated head:Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017 | 0 |
Donald Trump's Problems Are Much Deeper Than A Campaign Manager
Things are not going well for Donald Trump.
On Monday, he fired his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Lewandowski ran the campaign on a shoestring budget and a strategy that was largely built off and fueled by the candidate's say-whatever personality and brand.
That worked great in a primary — not so much in a general election. But Trump's problems are far deeper than an embattled campaign manager, who just four months ago was described as Trump's "alter ego."
Trump's family stepped in Monday in a scene that could have been ripped from The Apprentice.
Lewandowski was summoned to a morning meeting, but it was a setup, New York magazine's Gabe Sherman reports:
Tension has persisted in the campaign between Lewandowski and a faction led by veteran political operative Paul Manafort, a former Ronald Reagan aide, who was brought on in the spring to manage a potential battle for delegates at the convention. But doubts started to grow about Lewandowski's management. The bottom line is Lewandowski didn't run a campaign that could win a modern-day presidential campaign.
Here were some of the problems:
Money: Trump didn't need much of it in the primary campaign. He was able to get himself on TV without much problem. But Trump, who claims to be worth $10 billion, vowed not to fund his general-election campaign. That, combined with Trump's lackluster fundraising, has made lots of Republicans wring their hands. At the end of May, Trump's campaign had just $1.3 million cash on hand — and owed Trump himself $45.7 million. That figure is so paltry, it's less than every Republican senator up for re-election in competitive races. In something of an exit interview on CNN Monday after his firing, Lewandowski bragged twice that "the money is pouring in." He said the campaign had raised some $6 million to $8 million at recent events.
Trump would have to raise that amount of money every single day for two to three months to total the $500 million he said he would need to fund a general-election campaign. And that's half of what most real campaigns for president would need nowadays. In 2012, Romney and Obama spent roughly $2 billion combined.
Travel: Trump wasted a monthlong advantage over Hillary Clinton when he had vanquished his rivals and she was still battling Bernie Sanders. Instead of focusing on traditional swing states, Trump traveled to states where he is likely to win or likely to lose.
Staff: Trump's campaign has fewer than 100 staffers. He boasts how "efficient" his operation is, with 73 employees. Clinton is estimated to already have around 800 paid staffers. Those are people who can be used to register voters and then get them to the polls in key states. You could believe Trump's boast that his campaign is more "efficient" and that his constant presence on TV compensates for a smaller staff. Or you could look to history: By August of 2012, Obama had 901 people on his payroll; Mitt Romney had 403.
And never mind the size of the staff; what is the campaign doing with them? Trump has eschewed data and behavioral analytics so far. That's something the Clinton team not only is all over, but something the Republican Party recognized was a problem after losing twice to Obama. The president broke the mold on this, and Republicans have tried hard to make up ground in the use of data.
Ads: Hillary Clinton and groups supporting her are spending more than $23 million on ads in eight key battleground states, according to NBC/SMG Delta.
For those who think it's still early, it's not really. Consider 2012 — back then, Romney and his allies were on air with almost $40 million in ads, compared with Obama and his supporters with $45 million. And one of the lessons of 2012 was that Romney allowed his opponents to define him with negative advertising early on. Trump's negatives are far worse than Romney's were at this point in the campaign.
But here's the reality: Blame the campaign manager all you want, he's not really the problem. Trump's problems go well beyond a campaign manager and straight to him. Problems in a campaign usually stem from the top, and that's especially true in this one.
Message: Trump has myriad problems, including a lack of policy depth, a dereliction of facts and an overall message — especially when he talks about race and identity — that has offended lots of voters he didn't have to worry about in a nearly all-white Republican primary. But a general election is a whole different ballgame. Some 14 million people voted for Trump in the primaries — a record. But Obama won almost five times as many votes in the 2012 general election (66 million).
Image: Trump may have been the Teflon Don with GOP voters, but he was Velcro with the rest of the country. Coming out of the primary, Trump's negative rating is higher than any other presidential candidate in history. And it has gotten worse in the past month following (1) his inflammatory comments that the presiding judge in the Trump University fraud case was biased because of his Mexican heritage and (2) the veterans fundraiser imbroglio. Trump donated $1 million only after the Washington Post reported there was no evidence he had done so as promised. That led to a press conference at which Trump called reporters names like "sleaze" and, derisively, "a real beauty." (Both reporters are children of Cuban immigrants.)
Disunity: All of that has led to a split with Republican Party leaders. Never before has the sitting speaker of the House called his party's presumptive nominee's comments "racist" (as Paul Ryan did with Trump's comments on the Trump U judge). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chided Trump to get on message and stick to the script. One Republican senator said he would not entertain any more Trump questions and others are refusing to defend him and even threatening not to support him.
Inconsistency And A Lack Of Discipline: Trump himself months ago had promised to be "more presidential than anybody other than the great Abe Lincoln." Back in March, on the night of the Michigan primary and five days after he became the first presidential candidate in history to defend the size of his genitalia during a live national presidential debate, Trump vowed, "I could be more presidential than anybody. I can be more presidential, if I want to be, I can be more presidential than anybody."
He called it "easy." It's proved to be not so easy. Instead, Trump seems to have an internal conflict choosing which self he wants to be. He delivered two wooden speeches, reading from a teleprompter twice in a week after GOP disunity came to a head. And then he was back to his free-wheeling self at a rally in Atlanta on Wednesday. His rambling speech went on for more than an hour, with Trump sometimes ducking out of incomplete thoughts midway through a sentence, sometimes coming back to them much later.
You just never know which Trump you're going to get — and both have their flaws.
Polls: Trump is now facing a minor collapse of his poll numbers against Hillary Clinton. After Trump wrapped up the nomination, he pulled even with Clinton, according to the Real Clear Politics average of the polls. (That was when the Democratic race was not yet settled.) Over the past month, Trump has dipped below 40 percent. Clinton holds, on average, a 6-point lead. Polls this far out are hardly predictive of what will happen in the fall, but the trend is unmistakable and worrying many in the GOP.
Besides the horse-race numbers are other worrisome figures for the GOP:
— An ABC/Washington Post poll found 70 percent of Americans dislike Trump, including 56 percent who have a "strongly unfavorable" view. That's unheard of. What's more, 9 in 10 Hispanics have an unfavorable view of Trump, including more than three-quarters who said so "strongly."
— A CBS/New York Times poll found that 41 percent said they thought Clinton had done something illegal with her emails and private server setup in her home. Yet Trump was pulling in only 37 percent against Clinton's 43 percent in a head-to-head matchup. That means Trump isn't even getting all of the people who thought Clinton had done something illegal.
All of this has led to "Free the Delegates," the latest of the Stop Trump/Never Trump/Dump Trump movements.
"It's good news for us, bad news for the Trump supporters," contended Kendal Unruh, a delegate from Colorado, speaking Monday on MSNBC of Lewandowski's ouster. She's one of the leaders of "Free the Delegates," which is encouraging the Republican National Committee to change its rules and allow delegates to vote their conscience at the convention.
"There is not a campaign, there is not an organization," Unruh said of the Trump team, adding, it would be "impossible to win against Hillary Clinton" with Trump on the ticket.
But Free the Delegates, like past Stop Trump efforts, is unlikely to succeed. It, too, has little organization. And, perhaps most importantly, no candidate.
"Zero chance of success, unless Ted Cruz, who controls almost 1,000 delegates, joins in," is how veteran GOP operative Charlie Black described the effort. Black worked for John Kasich's presidential campaign, but also has ties to Manafort, with whom he founded the lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly. "This likely will calm down before the convention."
Another veteran strategist called it "unlikely" that the RNC rules would be changed to derail Trump and said it is "highly improbable" that most of the delegates would "go against the will of millions of Republican primary voters."
"The ball is the hands of one person, Donald Trump," said Danny Diaz, who managed Jeb Bush's presidential campaign. "If he proves he can campaign without attacking fellow Republicans and employing divisive rhetoric, he will have few issues becoming the nominee, despite getting grudging support on the floor of the convention."
If Trump continues to be critical of fellow Republicans, however, it's possible there could be at least a protest vote on the floor of the convention. Sure, Trump would still be the nominee, but the last thing the party wants is a demonstration of disunity shown live on national television months before voting.
Either way, Trump has a lot of work to do — and it starts with himself. | 1 |
There have been plenty of accusations made against President Obama before and during his presidency. Birthers, led by Donald Trump, have for years, accused the president of being foreign born. He s even been accused of being a Muslim, as if being a Muslim is somehow indicative of being something bad. Now, a GOP politician has come out with another accusation: that president Obama has a soft spot for homosexuals because he was once a gay prostitute. Mary Lou Bruner, a retired teacher and a Republican candidate for the Texas State Board of Education said: That s how he paid for his drugs. He has admitted he was addicted to drugs when he was young and he is sympathetic with homosexuals; but he hasn t come out of the closet about his own homosexual/bisexual background. What is her evidence? Well, as is the case with Republicans when they make terrible accusations, they usually have no evidence but they simply play on the fears of people. What s especially troubling about this case is that Bruner s a serious contender for the 15 member education body which already has a vein of lunacy. This is the same body that enacted: Curriculum guidelines requiring students to learn about Confederate heroes, and required teachers to explain the equivalency of Abraham Lincoln s and Jefferson Davis s inaugural addresses, as well as the ways international institutions such as the United Nations threaten U.S. sovereignty. Bruner fits right in with the lunacy and she should be perfect. In the past, she s made other interesting accusations. She s claimed that evolution is a religious philosophy with propaganda supporting the religion of Atheism. She also said that scientists have hidden hard evidence that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time.Despite these crazy accusations and far fetched theories, Bruner is not an anomaly. She has become a standard bearer of the Republican party. Featured image from Wikimedia Commons. | 1 |
Trumpkins fancy themselves true American patriots, despite their lord and savior, Donald Trump, being the opposite of American patriotism. They re so secure in their not-patriotism that they threaten anyone who doesn t want to vote for Trump with violence, and death.Those anti-American threats have extended to newspapers like the Arizona Republic, which endorsed Hillary at the end of September. That endorsement represents the first time in the paper s 125-year history that they ve endorsed a Democrat.They started receiving death threats shortly after the first debate. Today, the paper s president put Trumpkins to shame by telling them what real patriotism looks like, and it looks nothing like Donald Trump. Free speech requires compassion. The woman who answered the phone at the Republic s offices got to hear an angry caller wish doom on them, and invoke the name of one of the paper s reporters who was assassinated 40 years ago. She reported that caller to the authorities, but she also prayed for the caller, despite the threat. Free speech requires an open debate. Nicole, the paper s editor in charge of the news staff, led her reporters to a Trump rally following their endorsement, knowing the jeers and harassment they would receive. Trumpkins had said the Republic would burn, should be shut down, etc., and still she did her job in covering both sides of the election. Free speech requires bravery. Trumpkins also said that anyone with whom they disagree should be punished. The Republic s editorial page editor, Phil, who s a lifelong Republican, calmly denounced Trump, over and over, despite the escalating problems with Trump s fans. Free speech is part of a society that values hard work and opportunity. This one should be obvious because Trump s fans allegedly value hard work above all. The young men and women who sell Republic subscriptions door-to-door were so frightened after getting spit on, bullied, and threatened with violence that they didn t want the paper to publish their first names. Yet, they still come to work and still go door-to-door. Free speech is sometimes the only way to hold the powerful accountable. Trump fans called the paper s staff hacks and losers. It was an investigative reporter at the Republic who first broke the story about the horrid treatment veterans receive at the Phoenix VA. His work brought that out into the open, led to uncovering more scandals, and now, maybe real change can happen. Do Trump fans value vets? Not nearly enough. Do they know how to research? No. Free speech, and a free press, comes at a cost. Trumpkins told the paper that one of their legacy publishers, Gene Pulliam, was spinning in his grave over their terrible transgression in endorsing a Democrat. Gene s wife, Nina, sat at the bedside of the reporter who was assassinated 40 years ago, and watched him die slowly for the crime of doing his job. Freedom of religion is a fragile and precious thing. The Republic s current president, Mi-Ai Parrish, has a grandfather who is a Christian pastor. Trump fans who have deluded themselves into thinking they re Christian said Jesus would judge her, that she would burn in hell and that non-Christians should be kept out. She invoked her grandfather, who is an example of real Christian persecution. He and a friend were imprisoned and tortured for refusing to deny Christ.One of the biggest insults to Christians who suffer such persecution in the world is all the pseudo-Christians here who are crying about persecution because they can t force their religion down our throats. These people are sorry excuses for Christians on those grounds alone.The paper was also asked what right they had to endorse Hillary. Parrish has family that grew up under an oppressive dictator. Her mother had no right to free speech, no right to free press, no right to education, and no right to vote. The Trump fans would take all of that away from us just so they re more comfortable. One man can make a difference. At its core, that is what America stands for. Jobe Couch, an Army cultural attach living in Alabama, sponsored Parrish s aunts and mother when they came over from Korea. His generosity helped many immigrants, who are now citizens and earning their livings as teachers, engineers, pastors, lawyers, and more. The Trump fans who told the Republic s staff that they should go live with those immigrants they love so much, in the countries they come from, have forgotten what America is.What s the First Amendment all about? It s all about the above. Trumpkins have no clue what patriotism is if they did, they d be appalled at anyone who behaved the way they and Trump himself do.To read the Arizona Republic s entire moving response, click here.Featured image by Zeb Micelli, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons | 1 |
During a campaign event in Iowa Falls, Iowa on Monday, Bernie Sanders asked the people in the crowd to hear their experiences on what it is like to live on a $12,000 dollar a year income. The response from one woman is both chilling and powerful.Here is part of one woman s response: It s so hard to do anything to pay your bills, you re ashamed all the time when you can t buy presents for your children it s really, really, really hard and I work 3, 4, 5 jobs sometimes, always minimum wage, I have a degree, divorced and it s just I m waiting for disability to come through so my parents have to support me it s just hard. Bernie Sanders responds, saying: It is not easy for people to stand up and say that but the truth is that until millions of people who are experiencing what you re experiencing do say that we don t make change. You can watch the entire exchange below:The right-wing has done everything in their power to make poverty shaming as acceptable as racism has historically been. Currently, the default attack on the poor is to claim that they only want free stuff. It s a slightly more de-racialized way of calling people welfare queens.That s why it can be extremely hard for poor people to come forward with stories of their personal struggles. They have been subjected to the dogma of homo economicus their entire lives. They have a tendency to see themselves as failures, rather than the people living in an economic system that was built for them to survive, not for them to prosper.In the same way that the movement during the queer liberation movement was largely successful because it encouraged people to come out of the closest and make some noise, so to the poor must tell their stories of struggle. They must demand that their existence and struggle be heard, and to refuse to allow themselves to be dehumanized by the forces that wish to exploit them.Featured Image Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr | 1 |
The longer Donald Trump and his merry band of authoritarian misfits carry on with the baseless claims that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election cycle, the more subject they are to merciless and unrelenting ridicule. The latest people to troll Trump? Entertainers Chrissy Teigan and Ruby Rose.The two women had been on Lip Sync Battle together, and they used that as a way to riff on Trump s insane allegations against the former president. Taking to Trump s favorite platform for communication, Twitter, Teigan and Rose engaged in a back and forth in which they pointed Trump s own insanity back at him:The best part is that Ruby Rose pretty much outright calls Trump crazy. That s because he is. As funny as this is though, and as well-deserved as the mockery here and elsewhere is, it is also frightening. Donald Trump is president of the United States. What he says even via Twitter is of the utmost importance. He lies incessantly pathologically, even, and seems at times to be downright delusional. That is dangerous for the nation and the world, to have such a person holding the nuclear codes.Keep the mockery up, celebs. Perhaps Trump will go so far off the rails that the men in white coats will come for him, and we ll all be saved.Featured image via Michael Buckner/Getty Images (Teigan)/Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images (Ruby Rose) | 0 |
JAKARTA/TIMIKA, Indonesia (Reuters) - An Indonesian police officer was killed and a second wounded on Wednesday, after both were shot in the back in an area near Freeport-McMoRan Inc s giant Grasberg copper mine in the eastern province of Papua, police said. The officers were patrolling an area close to where a Freeport vehicle was targeted in a shooting on Tuesday, Papua police spokesman Suryadi Diaz said in a statement. A helicopter flew the men to a hospital in the nearby lowland city of Timika. The main access road to Grasberg remained closed, Freeport Indonesia spokesman Riza Pratama said, referring to a 79-mile (127-km) stretch from Timika to the mining town of Tembagapura that runs near a river rich with gold tailings from the mine upstream. A string of at least 15 separate shooting incidents in the area since mid-August that wounded at least 12 people and killed two police officers has been blamed by police on an armed criminal group , but linked to separatist rebels by others. In a statement, the separatist West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM), a group linked to the Free Papua Movement, claimed responsibility for Wednesday s incident. The group has said it is at war with police, military and Freeport. For decades, there have been sporadic attacks along the road where the shootings took place, but authorities efforts to catch the perpetrators have been hampered by thick surrounding jungle. The Indonesian Military (TNI) and police have urged the Armed Separatist Movement in Papua to surrender, but until now no one has turned themselves in, Indonesian military chief Gatot Nurmantyo said in a statement. Armed separatists cannot be left alone, he said, adding that reining in such activities was the domain of the military, which was preparing emergency measures in case persuasive approaches by the police and military failed. Papua has had a long-running, and sometimes violent, separatist movement since the province was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticised 1969 U.N.-backed referendum. Foreign journalists have in the past required special permission to report in Papua, and once there, have had security forces restrict their movement and work. President Joko Widodo has pledged to make the region more accessible to foreign media by inviting reporters on government-sponsored trips, although coverage remains difficult. | 1 |
HONG KONG — The United States said on Tuesday that it had begun deploying an advanced and contentious missile defense system in South Korea, prompting China to warn of a new atomic arms race in a region increasingly on edge over North Korea’s drive to build a nuclear arsenal. The American announcement came a day after the simultaneous launch of four missiles by North Korea into waters off the Japanese coast, which Pyongyang said was a drill for striking American bases in Japan. The feat, footage of which was broadcast on state television, raised concern about the North’s ability to overwhelm the new defense system being deployed. Hours later, North Korea further unnerved the region by declaring it was blocking all Malaysians from leaving its soil, sharply escalating a dispute over last month’s assassination of Kim the half brother of North Korea’s dictator, Kim . Malaysia has accused several North Korean citizens of using VX nerve agent to kill Mr. Kim in a case that has reminded the world of Pyongyang’s access to a stockpile of banned chemical weapons on top of its nuclear program — and its willingness to take extreme measures. The flurry of developments heightened anxiety in Asia over signs that Pyongyang is closing in on its goal of developing an intercontinental missile that can deliver a nuclear payload to the United States — and what the new Trump administration might do to prevent it. And they came as the United States and South Korea participated in military exercises that North Korea has condemned. The New York Times reported Sunday that President Trump’s national security deputies have discussed both the possibility of strikes that would almost certainly provoke an attack on South Korea and a reintroduction of nuclear weapons to the South. Intelligence officials say North Korea is already able to hit much of South Korea and Japan with a missile. A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geng Shuang, denounced the United States’ decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or Thaad, and vowed that Beijing would “take the necessary steps to safeguard our own security interests. ” “The consequences will be shouldered by the United States and South Korea,” Mr. Geng added, warning that the two countries should not “go further and further down the wrong road. ” For days, the official Chinese news media has warned that deployment of Thaad could lead to a “de facto” break in relations with South Korea and urged consumers to boycott South Korean products. The Chinese authorities recently forced the closing of 23 stores owned by Lotte, a South Korean conglomerate that agreed to turn over land that it owned for use in the Thaad deployment, and hundreds of Chinese protested at Lotte stores over the weekend, some holding banners that read, “Get out of China. ” Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, warned that Thaad “will bring an arms race in the region,” likening the defensive system to a shield that would prompt the development of new spears. “More missile shields of one side inevitably bring more nuclear missiles of the opposing side that can break through the missile shield,” it said. But in another article, the news agency rebuked North Korea, saying it must “face the reality that it can neither thwart Washington and Seoul nor consolidate its security in a breeze with its immature nuclear technology. ” The United States’ decision to deploy the missile technology brought new scrutiny to China’s policies toward North and South Korea and suggested that its attempts to please both countries in hopes of averting a crisis had fallen short. “To put it bluntly using a common Chinese expression, it has wanted to have a foot in two boats,” said Deng Yuwen, a current affairs commentator in Beijing who has sharply criticized North Korea. Yang Xiyu, a former senior Chinese official who once oversaw talks with North Korea, said China was worried that the deployment of the system would open the door to a broader American network of antimissile systems in the region, possibly in places like Japan and the Philippines, to counter China’s growing military as much as North Korea. “China can see benefits only for a U. S. regional plan, not for South Korea’s national security interest,” he said. The developments come as South Korea is consumed by turmoil over the impeachment of President Park whose administration agreed to the Thaad deployment. But with the president facing possible removal from office over a corruption scandal, the fate of the system has been in doubt. Its accelerated deployment could make it harder, if not impossible, for her successor to head off its installation. Moon an opposition leader who is the in the race to replace President Park, acknowledged that it would be difficult to overturn South Korea’s agreement to deploy the system. But he has insisted that the next South Korean government should have the final say on the matter, saying that Ms. Park’s government never allowed a full debate on it. Under its deal with Washington, South Korea is providing the land for the missile system and will build the base, but the United States will pay for the system, to be built by Lockheed Martin, as well as its operational costs. A cargo plane landed at the United States military’s Osan Air Base, about 40 miles south of Seoul, on Monday evening, carrying two trucks, each mounted with a Thaad launchpad. More equipment and personnel will start arriving in the coming weeks, South Korean military officials said. The South Korean Defense Ministry declined to specify when the system would be operational. But the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the deployment was likely to be completed in one or two months, with the system ready for use by April. Paul Haenle, director of the Center at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said that policy makers in China had failed to grasp how Washington and its allies regarded North Korea’s nuclear program as getting closer to a dangerous threshold of being able to place a warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit American cities. “That’s a ” said Mr. Haenle, who was director for China on the National Security Council under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. China has long opposed American missile defenses, in part because of fears that they might embolden American to consider a first strike to destroy China’s relatively small nuclear arsenal. Chinese strategists warn that the United States might consider such an attack if it was confident a defense system could intercept Chinese weapons that escaped destruction. China is believed to have already embarked on a program to modernize its arsenal and develop new weapons designed to avoid missile defenses, and analysts said the deployment of Thaad could prompt it to accelerate those efforts. Takashi Kawakami, a professor of international politics and security at Takushoku University in Tokyo, said the deployment of Thaad could put the United States in a stronger position to consider a strike on North Korea. If the United States took such action, he said, “North Korea is going to make a counterattack on the U. S. or Japan or another place, so in this case they will use Thaad” to defend against the North’s missiles. The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said he spoke for 25 minutes on Tuesday with Mr. Trump, who reiterated his pledge to stand by Japan “100 percent,” according to the public broadcaster NHK. “I appreciate that the United States is showing that all the options are on the table,” Mr. Abe said, adding that Japan was “ready to fulfill larger roles and responsibilities” to deter North Korea. | 0 |
.@DiamondandSilk have something to say about Kerry and Obama stance on Israel. pic.twitter.com/d3xsU7hMHl Diamond and Silk (@DiamondandSilk) December 29, 2016 | 0 |
The nation is still reeling from the fact that the so-called president, Donald Trump, attacked Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski in the most personal, vicious, misogynistic terms ever. However, we should not be surprised. We ve seen the scores of videos of him attacking a former Miss Universe over her weight, of his calling women pigs and dogs, of his making previous blood comments about former Fox host and current NBC host Megyn Kelly for asking tough questions about his misogynistic past in a GOP primary debate. We ve listened to Trump boasting of walking into the dressing rooms of teenage beauty pageant contestants. We all heard him brag of sexually assaulting women on the Access Hollywood tape. The apology for that damning audio only had Trump apologize in the asinine non-apology of if anyone was offended, with a pivot to Bill Clinton s behavior in the 1990 s, culminating in his gross parading of decades old Clinton accusers for debate cameras.Now that Trump is sitting in the Oval Office, Capitol Hill Republicans had no choice but to respond to his behavior. However, they knew what they were getting when they propped him up and got him elected. The #NeverTrump Republicans and assorted conservatives were shunned during the campaign for refusing to support a disgusting man who was so clearly unfit for office and unable to be president of all Americans due to his various bigotries, and for his obvious hatred of women in particular. Yet, they continued, due to the craven urge to put party before country and elect a Republican in order to get a conservative Supreme Court Justice which materialized in the form of Neil Gorsuch at the expense of the nation they claim to love. We all knew Trump s unfitness for the office he now holds and the damage he would do to the nation long before his American Carnage inauguration speech.However, there are Republicans calling Trump out on what he did to Mika Brzezinski. Almost universally, his comments were condemned. However, the GOP, with Trump as its standard-bearer, is defined by misogyny and all of his other bigoted opinions. He IS your party. That didn t stop GOP pundits who are not elected officials from criticizing him and the party harshly, though. Perhaps most prominently are CNN contributor and GOP strategist Ana Navarro and MSNBC s host of Deadline: White House Nicolle Wallace. Here are both of those proud Republican women s statements on Trump s latest antics. First, Nicolle Wallace, who sent some very good advice to the White House and Republicans everywhere that most likely will definitely not be taken:As a former WH comms director, my thoughts to the President s tweets: https://t.co/hhDNMWeAmL Nicolle Wallace (@NicolleDWallace) June 29, 2017Now, Ana Navarro s stinging response on CNN with Wolf Blitzer and others, amid a montage of outraged responses: This dude has got such a fixation with women and blood. What is wrong with him? This isn t normal. No, it s not normal. pic.twitter.com/m5cIL4YxKI Leanne Naramore (@LeanneNaramore) June 29, 2017Here is her full Blitzer segment:MUST WATCH: @ananavarro neuters Trump on live TV https://t.co/51a5TOnqTW Jason Morrell (@CNNJason) June 29, 2017Also, watch Ana Navarro unleash an attack on the silent GOP people who won t stand up to Trump:Holy Smoke! Watch Republican @ananavarro absolutely smash @realDonaldTrump and her Republican colleagues. pic.twitter.com/s7jUmRZm4k WING MAN (@USA_WINGMAN) June 30, 2017The thing you need to realize is this, Ana, Nicolle, and other Republicans who cannot abide Trump: Your party as you knew it is gone. You always had an issue with racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, etc. That must be addressed, and it will continue until you do it. The thing the respectable members that are left of the GOP must recognize is this, though: with Donald Trump as your standard-bearer, those sentiments ARE the GOP. I know how much a part of one s identity a political party can be. I am a lifelong, dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. I d be HOWLING if anyone tried to force me to go Independent. However, if the Democrats ever came up with their own version of Donald Trump, I like to think I d run for the hills as fast as my fat little legs could carry me because my country will ALWAYS come before my party. I really hope you all have the stones to do the same in this instance.Remember, Republicans history will judge you on who you associated with and how you handled the Trump era. You don t want to be on the wrong side of it.Featured image via BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, after a meeting with the Senate Republican leader on Thursday, said his top three priorities are immigration, healthcare and jobs. Trump spoke to reporters after his meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Earlier Thursday, Trump held meetings with House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and President Barack Obama. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican President Donald Trump defended his immigration executive order on Wednesday as necessary for the nation’s security in a speech to law enforcement officers in which he criticized U.S. courts as being political. “I don’t ever want to call a court biased, so I won’t call it biased,” Trump said. “And we haven’t had a decision yet. But courts seem to be so political, and it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read the statement and do what’s right. And that has to do with the security of our country.” | 1 |
The politically correct country of Sweden paying a very big price for their kindness, generosity and open-borders policy This attack happened in Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm. The two Swedes told them not to vandalize flowerpots and as a response they got beaten up for it.https://youtu.be/Rsn_1TO1kMUThis is indeed the future of Europe. By their irresponsible, short-sighted, suicidal immigration and refugee policies, Europe s political and media elites have ensured a future of violence, bloodshed and chaos for their people. Sweden, the future of Europe: people stock up on fire arms, police recommend vigilante groups , by Nicolai Sennels, 10News.dk, December 12, 2015 (thanks to TheReligionofPeace.com):This is a very interesting read, because the whole of Europe is heading the same way as Sweden. Sweden is, so to speak, the future of Europe. And in this future, those who can afford it pay security companies the rest gest license for firearms and forms vigilante groups. via: Pamela Gellar You have to understand that Swedes are really scared when an asylum house opens in their village. They can see what has happened in other places. Salesman for alarm systems.Since Parliament decided in 1975 that Sweden should be multicultural and not Swedish, crime has exploded. Violent crime has increased by over 300% and rapes have increased by an unbelievable 1,472%.The violence at the hands of Muslim migrants is nothing new to Sweden. This horrific video was published in 2013:Many Swedes see the mass immigration as a forced marriage: Sweden is forced to marry a man she did not choose, yet she is expected to love and honor him, even though he beats her and treats her badly. Her parents (the government) tell her to be warm and show solidarity with him. Are the State and I now in agreement that our mutual contract is being renegotiated? Alexandra von Schwerin, whose farm who was robbed three times. Police refused to help.Once upon a time, there was a safe welfare state called Sweden, where people rarely locked their doors.Now, this country is a night-watchman state each man is on his own. When the Minister of Justice, Morgan Johansson, encourages breaking the law, it means opening the gates to anarchy. Mr. and Mrs. Swede have every reason to be worried, with the influx of 190,000 unskilled and unemployed migrants expected this year equivalent to 2% of Sweden s current population. The number is as if 6.4 million penniless migrants who did not speak English arrived in U.S. in one year, or 1.3 million in Britain.And the Swedes are preparing: demand for firearms licenses is increasing; more and more Swedes are joining shooting clubs and starting vigilante groups. After a slight dip in 2014, the number of new gun permits has gone up significantly again this year. According to police statistics, there are 1,901,325 licensed guns, owned by 567,733 people, in Sweden. Add to this an unknown number of illegal weapons. To get a gun permit in Sweden, you need to be at least 18 years old; law-abiding; well-behaved, and have a hunting license or be a member of an approved shooting club. In 2014, 11,000 people got a hunting license: 10% more than the year before. One out of five was a woman. There is also a high demand for alarm systems right now, says a salesman at one of the security companies in an interview with Gatestone. It is largely due to the turbulence we are seeing around the country at the moment. People have lost confidence in the State, he added. The police will not come anymore. Truck drivers say that when they see a thief emptying the fuel tank of their trucks, they run out with a baseball bat. It is no use calling the police, but if you hit the thief, you can at least prevent him from stealing more diesel. Many homeowners say the same thing: they sleep with a baseball bat under the bed. But this is risky: the police can then say you have been prepared to use force, and that might backfire on you. The salesman, who asked to remain anonymous, also spoke of Sweden s many Facebook groups, in which people in different villages openly discuss how they intend to protect themselves: Sometimes you get totally freaked out when you see what they are writing. But you have to understand that Swedes are really scared when an asylum house opens in their village. They can see what has happened in other places. One blog, detailing the consequences for the local population when an asylum facility opens, is aptly named Asylkaos ( Asylum Chaos ). There is a list of companies the reader is prompted to boycott; the blog claims these businesses encourage the transformation of Sweden to a multicultural society, and are therefore considered hostile to Swedes. At another security company, a salesman said that every time the Immigration Service buys or rents a new housing facility, his firm is swamped with calls. The next day, he said, half the village calls and wants to buy alarm systems. Ronny Fredriksson, spokesman of the security company Securitas, said that the demand for home alarm systems first exploded about six years ago, when many local police stations were shut down and police moved to the main towns. This, he said, could result in response times of several hours. More and more people now employ the services of our security guards. Shopping malls and stores in the city come together and hire guards. We are kind of like the local beat cops of old. Even though Securitas makes big money from the increased need for home security alarms and security guards, Fredriksson says they also are worried about the effect on society: The problem is that we too need the police. When our guards catch a burglar or a violent person, we call the police but the response times are often very long. Sometimes, the detainees get violent and quite rowdy. On occasion, the police have told us to release the person we have apprehended, if we have his identity, because they do not have a patrol nearby. Even before the massive influx of migrants in the fall of 2015, Swedes felt a need to protect themselves and with good reason. Since the Parliament decided in 1975 that Sweden should be multicultural and not Swedish, crime has exploded. Violent crime has increased by more than 300%, and rapes have increased by an unbelievable 1,472%.The politicians, however, ignore the people s fear completely. It is never discussed. Instead, the people who express concern about what kind of country Sweden has become are accused of xenophobia and racism. Most likely, that is the reason more and more people are taking matters into their own hands, and protecting themselves and their families to the best of their ability.All the same, some people do not settle for that. It seems some people are trying to stop mass immigration to Sweden. Almost every day there are reports of fires being set at asylum houses. So far, miraculously, no one has been hurt.These fires are set not only by Swedes. On October 13, a 36-year-old woman living in Skellefte was convicted of setting fire to the asylum facility in which she herself resided. The woman claimed she lit a candle and then fell asleep. Yet forensic evidence showed that a combustible fluid had been doused throughout the room, and the court found beyond a reasonable doubt that she herself had ignited the fire.The number of violent incidents at Sweden s Immigration Service facilities is now sky-high. In 2013, according to Dispatch International, at least one incident happened every day. When Gatestone Institute recently acquired the incident list for January 1, 2014 through October 29, 2015, that number had risen to 2,177 incidents of threats, violence and brawls on average, three per day.The Swedish government, however, would apparently rather not talk about that. Foreign Minister Margot Wallstr m conceded, in an interview with the daily Dagens Nyheter that garnered international attention, that Sweden is, in fact, heading for a systemic breakdown: Most people seem to think we cannot maintain a system where perhaps 190,000 people will arrive every year. In the long run, our system will collapse. This welcome is not going to receive popular support. We want to give people who come here a worthy reception. Symptomatic of Swedish journalists, this statement was tucked away at the end of the article. The headline was about how the political party that is critical of immigration, the Sweden Democrats Party (Sverigedemokraterna), is responsible for the asylum-housing fires. But foreign media, such as The Daily Mail and Russia Today, picked up Wallstr m s warning about a systemic collapse and ran it as the urgent news it actually is.Nevertheless, in official Sweden, the imminent collapse is ignored. Instead, journalists exclusively focus on attacks by supposedly racist Swedes on refugee centers. To prevent new fires, the Immigration Service decided on October 28 that from now on, all asylum facilities would have secret addresses. And meager police resources will now be stretched even further to protect asylum seekers. Police helicopters will even patrol refugee centers. But considering there are only five helicopters available, and that Sweden s landmass is 407,340 square km (157,274 square miles), this gesture is effectively empty.At a meeting with the Nordic Council in Reykjavik, Iceland, on October 27, Sweden s Prime Minister, Stefan L fven, was questioned by his Nordic colleagues about the situation in Sweden. L fven had recently said that, We should have the option of relocating people applying for asylum in Sweden to other EU-countries. Our ability, too, has a limit. We are facing a paradigm shift. That comment led a representative of Finland s Finns Party (Sannfinl ndarna) to wonder, with a hint of irony, how mass immigration to Sweden, which for years Swedish politicians have touted as being so profitable, has now suddenly become a burden.Another Finns Party representative, Simon Elo, pointed out that the situation in Sweden is out of control. Sweden has great abilities, but not even the Swedes have abilities that great, Elo said.When L fven was asked how he is dealing with the real concerns and demands of the citizenry, his answer was laconic: Of course I understand there is concern, L fven said. It is not easy. But at the same time there are 60 million people on the run. This is also about them being our fellow men, and I hope that viewpoint will prevail. The daily tabloid Expressen asked L fven about the attacks on asylum facilities. He replied, Our communities should not be characterized by threats and violence, they should be warm and show solidarity. As if such behavior can be forced.Many Swedes see mass immigration as a forced marriage: Sweden is forced to marry a man she did not choose, yet she is expected to love and honor him even though he beats her and treats her badly. And on top of that, her parents (the government) tell her to be warm and show solidarity with him.More and more Swedish commentators are now drawing the same conclusion: that Sweden is teetering on the brink of collapse. Editorial columnist Ivar Arpi of the daily Svenska Dagbladet, wrote an astonishing article on October 26, about a woman named Alexandra von Schwerin and her husband. The couple lives on the Skarhults Estate farm in Sk ne in southern Sweden; they have been robbed three times. Most recently, they were robbed of a quad bike, a van and a car. When the police arrived, von Schwerin asked them what she should do. The police told her that they could not help her. All our resources are on loan to the asylum reception center in Trelleborg and Malm , they said. We are overloaded right now. So I suggest you get in touch with the vigilante group in Esl v. What the police had called a vigilante group turned out to be a group of private business owners. In 2013, after being robbed more or less every night, they had decided to come together and start patrolling the area themselves. Currently, they pay a security firm to watch their facilities. On principal, I am totally against it, von Schwerin said. What are the people who cannot afford private security to do? They will be unprotected. I m sure I will join, but very, very reluctantly. For the first time, I feel scared to live here now. Are the State and I now in agreement that our mutual contract is being renegotiated? Commenting on the police s encouraging people to join vigilante groups, social commentator and former Refugee Ombudsman Merit Wager wrote: So, the Swedes are supposed to arrange and pay for their own and their families security and keep their farms from being subjected to theft, even though that has up to now been included in the social contract for which we pay high taxes, to have police we can count on to protect us and apprehend criminals?! When did the social contract expire? October 2015? Without any notice of termination, since the tax-consuming party is not fulfilling its part of the deal? This should mean that our part of the deal to pay taxes for public, joint services has also become invalid? If the social contract is broken, it is broken. Then it is musical chairs (lawlessness, defenselessness, without protection), and that means that each and every one of us should pay less taxes. Ilan Sad , lawyer and social commentator, wrote about the refugee chaos at Malm Central Train Station on the blog Det Goda Samh llet on October 27: The authorities no longer honor the social contract. He described four large signs on display around the station that read Refugee? Welcome to Malm ! in four different languages. It is unclear who the sender of the message is, or, for that matter, who is in charge of the reception facility a number of barracks by the old post office in the inner harbor. Everything is utterly confusing. It could be Malm City or the Immigration Service, but it might as well be Refugees Welcome, or possibly a religious community. I think to myself that a government agency could not reasonably write like this, a correct and pertinent sign would say something like: Asylum seekers are referred to the barracks for information and further transport. But I am probably wrong; Malm City is the chief suspect communicant. The signs in and around the Central Station are symptoms of something incredibly serious: Role confusion and the decay of the constitutional state. And thus, that our authorities no longer honor the social contract. In a post called Anarchy, blogger Johan Westerholm, who is a Social Democratic Party member and a critic of the government, wrote that the Minister for Justice and Migration, Morgan Johansson, is now urging authorities to be pragmatic about laws and regulations (concerning asylum housing for so-called unaccompanied refugee children). Westerholm stated that this is tantamount to the government opening the gates to anarchy : Our country is founded on law; Parliament legislates and the courts apply these. Morgan Johansson s statement and his otherwise passive approach are testimony to how this, our kind of democracy, may fade into a memory very shortly. He now laid the first brick in the building of a state that rests on other principles. Anarchism. If anarchy really does break out, it would be good to remember that there are nearly two million licensed firearms in Sweden. Sweden s shooting clubs have seen a surge in interest; many are welcoming a lot of new members lately. Via: Gatestone Institute | 0 |
Justice the Obama way Instead of investigating whether Planned Parenthood illegally trafficked baby body parts, Obama s DOJ is targeting the group behind the undercover videosThe U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to investigate the group that produced undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood employees admitting that they harvest and sell organs ripped from the bodies aborted babies. Politico reported the news of the coming DOJ investigation earlier today:JUSTICE TO PROBE CENTER FOR MEDICAL PROGRESS While congressional committees investigate Planned Parenthood s practices, the Justice Department agreed to look into whether the group that released the sting videos obtained the footage legally. In response to a request by House Democrats, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday afternoon that Justice would review all of the information and determine what the appropriate steps moving forward would be. Planned Parenthood has staunchly defended its practices and claims that the Center for Medical Progress illegally obtained its footage, then excessively edited it to misrepresent what the organization does. The DOJ investigation of the Center for Medical Progress, which, unlike Planned Parenthood, is not in the business of killing healthy, viable unborn babies in order to sell their organs for cash, was announced after several Democratic lawmakers called for the organization to be targeted:Four Democrats in Congress Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Zoe Lofgren, Jerry Nadler, and Yvette Clarke have written to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and California Attorney General Kamala Harris, asking them to open investigations into the Center for Medical Progress. The Democrats say the videos were filmed as part of an elaborate scheme using fake identification and without the approval of the Planned Parenthood doctor who appears in them. It s interesting that Lynch decided so early to make a statement about the group. There are certainly more videos to come, and if Planned Parenthood s panicked press releases are any indication, the footage may be far more damaging than anything that s been revealed thus far. However, given the abject politicization of multiple agencies under Obama s command including the Internal Revenue Service, which targeted conservative non-profits, and the DOJ, which has been hesitant to investigate Obama allies it seems unlikely that Lynch and those who report to her will ever crack down on Abortion, Inc.Via: The Federalist | 1 |
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The Republican healthcare plan is a travesty and the numbers don t lie. Sen. Orrin Hatch does, though. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tweeted on Thursday, Let us be clear and this is not trying to be overly dramatic: Thousands of people will die if the Republican health care bill becomes law. Sanders is correct but he s being stingy with his numbers. Actually, tens of thousands of our country s neediest will die if Trumpcare becomes law and all because Republicans want to gift the wealthy with a tax cut.Let us be clear and this is not trying to be overly dramatic: Thousands of people will die if the Republican health care bill becomes law. Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 23, 2017Medicaid saves lives and that s a fact that Hatch refuses to acknowledge. The Utah Senator responded to Sanders accurate tweet, saying, The brief time when we were *not* accusing those we disagree with of murder was nice while it lasted. The brief time when we were *not* accusing those we disagree with of murder was nice while it lasted. https://t.co/qr1rzon1cg Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) June 23, 2017When was that brief time, Orrin? Was it when Sarah Palin called Obamacare the death panels then when the Affordable Care Act became law, lives were saved. Trumpcare assures death to thousands of vulnerable Americans.Twitter users reacted swiftly to Hatch s tweet.Well you could stop trying to actively murder us while you line your pockets. Just see how that works out for public discourse. Dennis Perkins (@DennisPerkins5) June 24, 2017it is an unavoidable fact that people are going to die if this bill passes you useless cynical octogenarian piece of shit joe mande (@JoeMande) June 24, 2017 in this house we declare orrin hatch is a murderer David Kaib (@DavidKaib) June 24, 2017can we accuse you of trying to bankrupt people, then? Because that is also true Greg Olear (@gregolear) June 24, 2017Have you guys considered not trying to pass laws that will kill people? Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) June 24, 2017hey man. fellow verified account here. i can cuss at you without being banned so here goes: you are a crap person, mister! Virgil Texas (@virgiltexas) June 24, 2017But if thousands will die as a result, what do you call it, Senator? "A good tax cut?" HarleyPeyton (@HarleyPeyton) June 24, 2017Death panels, anyone? Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) June 24, 2017Stop trying to kill people then dickhead dan (@dannolan) June 24, 2017Stop trying to murder poor people Steve Schreiber (@sschreiber13) June 24, 2017fuck you. im putting you in the toilet you old bitch. fuck you jesse farrar (@BronzeHammer) June 24, 2017Vote no on the murder bill, Senator David Greenwald (@davidegreenwald) June 24, 2017Hey quick question who came up with "death panels" Victoria McNally (@vqnerdballs) June 24, 2017How rude of us to point out the fact that Trumpcare will kill thousands of us and wreck countless other lives. We must mind our manners. Lawrence Glickman (@LarryGlickman) June 24, 2017Well, we mustn't make our precious senators feel sad. That would be the greatest crime of all, apparently. Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) June 24, 2017You're a fucking murderer dude. Make peace with it. Prolific Jezzer ? (@leducviolet) June 24, 2017Healthcare is literally life and death. Life and death language utterly applies. Matt Debenham (@debenham) June 24, 2017You're a repulsive liar who cares about nothing but money. Fuck you for hurting the American people, you soulless fucking monster. beth ??? (@bourgeoisalien) June 24, 2017how can you stand being you 2ND AMENDMENT MUSLIM (@2dAmMuslim) June 24, 2017Obamacare is not perfect but Republicans insisted on a watered-down version before it passed and now we re left with a healthcare system that needs to be fixed but not eradicated. Some conservatives think that the GOP health care plan isn t cruel enough. We disagree with conservatives. This proposal to repeal Obamacare is cruel enough already. If it becomes law, it will destroy families, financially and emotionally. Sanders never mentioned the word murder in his tweet so we suspect that Hatch has a guilty conscience.As former Vice-President Joe Biden put it, Slashing Medicaid hurts kids, the elderly, people with disabilities and those struggling with addiction. All for tax breaks for the wealthy. Hatch already knows this. The opioid crisis is sweeping across the U.S. and Republicans want to target a program which would help some drug addicts eventually become useful citizens in this country. By the way, the Senator s state ranks 4th in overdose deaths.Photo by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images. | 0 |
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It s probably not the wisest decision to argue with Dr. Sebastian Gorka about the use of the phrase radical Islamic terrorism especially if you have absolutely no idea what you re talking about in the first place.Dr. Sebastian Gorka defended the Trump administration s use of the phrase radical Islamic terrorism in an appearance on MSNBC Tuesday. We will call it radical Islamic terrorism. We will target the ideology, and we will call them out for being evil, Gorka stated. MSNBC s Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle then tried to criticize Gorka s use of the phrase.Velshi asked Gorka how it would help stop terror attacks if the White House called the problem radical Islamic terrorism. Gorka then engaged a clever metaphor to help them understand. Gorka argued, If you, God forbid, caught cancer, and the hospital was forbidden from calling it cancer and said, You have the flu. Go home and hydrate and take some aspirins, would you actually have the right treatment?.' Ruhle responded, smugly, that there s still no cure for cancer and that it doesn t matter what you call it if it will still kill you.Velshi then accused Gorka of not having a good answer. Gorka fired back by saying that if you misdiagnose anything, whether it s a serious disease or a serious international geopolitical threat, you will never solve it. The White House Adviser then criticized the Obama administration for blaming this geopolitical issue on economic conditions and societal disenfranchisement It is about people having an ideology that is evil, and it has to be destroyed. Read more: The Gateway Pundit | 1 |
WHO KNEW HE HAD IT IN HIM? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) pushed back against a reporter who asked a question critical of the Republican tax reform bill early Wednesday morning by pointing out it was the reporter s job to use Democratic talking points. McConnell held a press conference shortly after the Senate passed the $1.5 trillion package of tax cuts and tax code revisions in the chamber s 51-48 vote. The vote was at about 1:30 a.m. after much debate on the floor of the Senate. The Democrats are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Republicans. They are putting politics before what s best for America. Pro-growth is the way to go! MAGA!A MONTAGE OF HYSTERIA FROM THE LEFT OVER THE TAX BILL AFTER THE HOUSE VOTE BUT BEFORE THE SENATE VOTED ON IT: Check out the woman who breaks into the live feed to call the bill a scam Wow! What do you say to Sen. Schumer when he says that you guys are going to rue the day that you pass this bill that the politics of passing long-term corporate tax cuts with short-term individual cuts is going to catch up to you guys? a reporter asked.McConnell cleared his throat and told the reporter he understood his job to use the Democratic talking points before explaining why he believes the tax reform bill is good for Americans. | 1 |
The sad and almost pathetic end of the Bush dynasty Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush had to ask his audience to clap during a speech at a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Tuesday.Here's Jeb Bush asking an audience in New Hampshire to "please clap": https://t.co/xiaOYIufy0 @shiftmsnbc pic.twitter.com/x0Uc5Fl8gr NTA by Mic (@NavigatingTrump) February 3, 2016Bush had just finished talking about how he would protect the country as commander in chief, The New York Times reported. I think the next president needs to be a lot quieter, but send a signal that we re prepared to act in the national security interests of this country to get back in business of creating a more peaceful world, he said. The audience responded with silence. Please clap, Bush then said, in a quieter tone, and the crowd laughed and obliged. Via: The Hill | 1 |
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